BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building near the city of Choueifat, south of Beirut, on Thursday, in a rare attack in the vicinity of the Lebanese capital since a US-brokered ceasefire came into force last month.What happened: The state-run Lebanese national news agency said the strike hit an apartment on the second floor of a building in al-Ajniha al-Khamsa residential neighborhood located between Choueifat and al-Amroussiyeh.The number of casualties wasn't immediately known.The Israeli military confirmed in a brief statement that it carried out a precision strike in Beirut on Thursday, without giving more details.According to Israeli media, Ali al-Husseini, the commander of the missile unit in the Imam Hussein Division, a brigade affiliated with Iran’s Quds Force that operates alongside Hezbollah, was the target of the attack. It remains unclear if Husseini was killed.Neither Hezbollah nor Iran has commented on the Israeli reports.Background: The strike comes after the United States gave its tacit approval for Israel to target senior Hezbollah commanders across Lebanon, Israeli political and security sources told Al-Monitor’s Rina Bassist this week.The attack is the first around the Beirut area since May 6, when Israel launched an airstrike in the capital’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, killing Ahmad Ghaleb Ballout, an official with the group’s elite Radwan Forces.Known more: Israel has escalated its attacks in Lebanon ahead of a fourth round of ambassador-level talks between the two sides in Washington next week. Military representatives from both countries are also due to meet at the Pentagon on Friday.Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said that more than 135 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, including in Tyre and the eastern Bekaa Valley, have been struck over the past 24 hours.Rina Bassist contributed to this report from Paris.