'No immunity' for militants, says PM Netanyahu after strike kills Hezbollah commander in Beirut

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday there was no "immunity" for Israel's enemies, a day after the Israeli military targeted a Hezbollah commander in its first strike on Beirut's southern suburbs since a ceasefire declared last month.

Israel ⁠said the attack killed the commander of the Iran-backed group’s elite Radwan force.

Hezbollah, which controls Beirut's southern suburbs, has yet to issue ⁠any statement on the strike or the commander's status. "He likely read in the press ‌that he had immunity in Beirut. Well, he ​read it and it is no longer the case," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2 when the group opened fire at Israel after Tehran came under US-Israeli attack.

Wednesday's strike raises pressure on the Lebanon ceasefire that emerged in parallel to a truce in the wider Middle East war, with a halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon ​being a key Iranian demand in Tehran's ⁠negotiations with Washington.

Announced on April 16 by US President Donald Trump, the Lebanon ceasefire has led to a reduction in hostilities: the Beirut area was not struck by Israel for weeks before Wednesday's attack.

But the sides have continued to trade blows in the south, where Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone.

Netanyahu said the Hezbollah ⁠commander, identified as ‌Ahmed Ali Balout by the Israeli military, "thought he could continue to direct attacks against our forces and our communities from his secret terrorist headquarters in Beirut".

"I say to our enemies in the ‌clearest possible way: No terrorist has immunity," he said.

Lebanese PM: Too early for 'high-level' meeting

More than 2,700 people have been killed in the war in Lebanon ⁠since March 2, Lebanon's Health Ministry says. Some 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from southern Lebanon.

Israel has announced 17 ‌soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.

At least 11 ‌people were killed in Israeli strikes in three different areas of south Lebanon on Wednesday, according ‌to a tally of Lebanese health ministry announcements.

Hezbollah said it carried out 17 operations against Israeli forces in southern ‌Lebanon on Wednesday, while the Israeli military said it had struck more than 15 militant infrastructure sites in the south the same day.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel since March 2.

Hezbollah says it has the right to ⁠resist Israeli forces occupying the ⁠south.

Israel's control zone extends as deep as 10 km (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. Israel says it aims to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.

The Lebanon ceasefire was announced for an initial 10 days and then extended for an additional three weeks during a meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington, hosted by Trump at the Oval Office.

Hezbollah strongly objects to the Lebanese government's contacts with Israel, which reflect deep differences between the group and its critics in Lebanon.

Trump said last month he looked forward to hosting Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ​in the near future, and that he saw "a great chance" the countries would reach a peace deal this year.

But ​on Wednesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam ​said that it was premature to talk of any high-level meeting between Lebanon and Israel, and said that shoring up a ceasefire would be the basis for ​any new negotiations between Lebanese and Israeli government envoys in Washington.