Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought an escalating conflict for 13 months from 2023-24. It culminated in an intense Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into southern Lebanon in October.

Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon since then, which Lebanon has said are in violation of the ceasefire deal. Israeli officials say the strikes are intended to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping after a war that took out much of its senior leadership and arsenal.

The airstrikes on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital, an area where Hezbollah holds sway, were some of the heaviest since a U.S.-brokered cease-fire came into effect in November.