Israel kills Hezbollah commander in Beirut strike, 3 dead as deal nears

Israel's targeted killing of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut on Sunday threatens to derail a US-Iran framework peace deal that President Donald Trump said would be signed later in the day.

Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's communications unit commander in a Beirut airstrike Sunday killed at least three people and threatened to unravel a US-Iran peace agreement that Trump said would be signed within hours. The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah command center in the Dahieh district of Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group.

"The attack on Dahieh shows that Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah fire into its territory, even as Washington presses for a broader truce," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement.

The strike came after Hezbollah launched drones and rockets toward northern Israel, violating a fragile cease-fire that had held since April. Iran's deputy commander of Joint Command Headquarters, Gen. Mohammad Jafar Asadi, warned the attack "will not go unanswered," according to the official Mizan news agency. Lebanon's Civil Defense said it retrieved three bodies and six wounded from the rubble of a five-story apartment building with shops on the ground floor.

The escalation complicates a potential breakthrough in US-Iran negotiations mediated by Pakistan, with a memorandum of understanding that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz — through which 21 percent of global oil trade normally flows — and extend a cease-fire for 60 days to allow nuclear talks. Ship traffic through the strait has collapsed to about seven vessels per day from roughly 100 before the war, according to tracking data compiled by Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hezbollah command center used to plan attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers operating in southern Lebanon. The commander of the group's communications unit was killed in the operation, Israeli Channel 12 reported. The IDF earlier warned residents of 29 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of planned strikes.

The timing of the escalation is particularly fraught. Trump said in a social media post Saturday that a deal was "scheduled to get signed" on Sunday, his 80th birthday, and that the Strait of Hormuz would be "open to all" immediately afterward. But Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said no deal would be signed Sunday, though one could be agreed in the coming days, according to Iranian state media.

Iran has insisted any broader peace settlement must end the fighting in Lebanon and require Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah rejected a US-brokered cease-fire proposal earlier this month, with its leader saying a truce worked out between Israel and the Lebanese government amounted to surrender for his group.

The last time Israel struck the Beirut suburbs — a week earlier — Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at northern Israel, triggering the most serious escalation since the cease-fire took hold April 7. Israel then counterattacked, striking sites in Iran. That pattern of retaliation shows the risk that Sunday's strike could trigger a similar cycle of escalation just as diplomatic channels appeared to be yielding results.

The Strait of Hormuz closure has already disrupted global markets. Between Feb. 28 and May 31, only about 607 ships transited the waterway, down from roughly 100 daily before the war. WTI crude has traded with a heightened risk premium, and defense sector stocks have rallied across global markets. Investors are now pricing the probability of either a diplomatic breakthrough or a renewed escalation, with options skew reflecting elevated uncertainty.

If the US-Iran memorandum is signed, the strait would reopen and a 60-day negotiation window on Iran's nuclear program would begin. Iran holds 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. If the deal collapses under the weight of the Lebanon front, the region could face a return to the full-scale hostilities that have killed thousands since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.