Three people were killed and four others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting Beirut's southern suburbs, the Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday. The Israeli military announced the assassination of a Hezbollah member in the attack, claiming he had "directed and assisted" Hamas fighters to carry out an operation against Israelis. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, however, stressed that this indicated "premeditated intentions" by Tel Aviv against Lebanon.

A joint statement issued by the Israeli army and the Israeli General Security Service (Shabak) stated that "Israeli army fighter jets, under the direction of the Shabak, attacked a Hezbollah member in the southern suburb of Beirut."

He added that he had recently been directing and assisting Hamas activists in an attempt to carry out a dangerous operation in the near future against Israeli civilians.

While the IDF statement did not specify the nature of the alleged "serious operation," it stated that the Hezbollah operative "posed a real and direct threat, and therefore the IDF and the Shin Bet security service acted to attack him in order to eliminate the threat."

This is the second Israeli airstrike targeting Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on November 27.

The first raid occurred on Friday, targeting a building Israel said Hezbollah was using to "store drones." The raid came in response to two rockets fired from southern Lebanon at Israel, an operation for which no group claimed responsibility, and for which Hezbollah denied responsibility.

Following the raid, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem asserted that his party could not accept Israel bombing the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. Qassem said at the time, "We cannot accept an equation in which Israel invades Lebanon and acts as it pleases, while we watch. Everything has a limit."

Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel continues to launch airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, which it claims are targeting Hezbollah military targets. Israel also accuses the Lebanese state of failing to implement its part of the agreement, which calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah's military arsenal and removing the group from its borders.