Hezbollah Fires Waves of Projectiles Into Israel After Deadly Strike in Beirut

Hezbollah fired more than 100 projectiles into Israel on Sunday, a day after an Israeli strike in the heart of the Lebanese capital killed at least 20 people.

More than 65 people were wounded in the attack on Saturday in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Three Israeli defense officials said the strike was an attempt to assassinate a top Hezbollah military commander, Mohammad Haidar. One of the Israeli defense officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, later said that Mr. Haidar was not killed.

On Sunday, waves of air raid sirens blared throughout much of Israel, including in the Tel Aviv area and the hilltop town of Safed. Israel’s military said that some of the projectiles — a term usually referring to rockets — were intercepted by air defense systems.

Magen David Adom, an Israeli emergency rescue service, said it had treated at least six people with injuries. It also shared images of cars engulfed by fires in central Israel.

Hezbollah said it had fired several salvos of rockets at Israel on Sunday.

The militant group said that one of the salvos — which it said had targeted a military installation in Tel Aviv around 6:30 a.m. — was in response to Israel’s targeting of Beirut. The Israeli military did not report an attack aimed at Tel Aviv around that time, and The New York Times was not able to independently verify the claim by Hezbollah.

The exchange of fire came as the Israeli military said it struck what it described as militant infrastructure next to a border crossing between Syria and Lebanon. It also ordered the evacuation of five villages in southern Lebanon.

Later on Sunday, Lebanon’s military accused Israel of targeting one of its centers, killing a soldier and wounding 18 others, some seriously. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it has said in the past that it was not operating against the Lebanese military — only Hezbollah.

Israel’s military has been intensifying operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon apparently in an attempt to put pressure on the militant group to reach a cease-fire deal. As its troops push deeper into southern Lebanon, the Israeli military has been stepping up bombardment of the Dahiya, a cluster of neighborhoods on the southern outskirts of Beirut that are effectively governed by Hezbollah.

The terms for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah appear to be taking shape, according to several regional and U.S. officials briefed on the diplomacy. Despite a degree of cautious optimism, the officials warned that critical details around implementation and enforcement needed to be worked out and that disagreements could still scupper any deal.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have said they will keep fighting as the negotiations continue.