By Laila Bassam, Timour Azhari and Steven Scheer
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Sunday ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks that sparked its war as Israel’s defence minister declared all options were open for retaliation against arch-enemy Iran.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested against Israel’s military campaign around the world from Jakarta to Istanbul and Rabat after rallies in major European capitals, Washington and New York on Saturday.
Late on Sunday night, Beirut’s southern suburbs came under renewed Israeli bombing with large fireballs and loud booms over the darkened skyline. Air raid sirens blared in Israel’s north including the city of Haifa.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday said his country would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely coordinating with longtime ally the U.S.
“Everything is on the table,” Gallant, who is due to meet U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, said in an interview with CNN. “Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far — we have proved it.”
Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its aggression in Lebanon and Gaza, where armed groups Hezbollah and Hamas are Tehran’s allies in a so-called Axis of Resistance.
Israel, which says its objective is the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, vowed retaliation amid fears that tensions will escalate into an all-out regional conflict.
While the U.S. has said it would not support strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, President Joe Biden said last week that Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities were being discussed.
In the early hours of Sunday, Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.
The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for residents of southern Beirut late on Sunday in advance of further strikes.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli soldiers hit Hezbollah’s underground infrastructure, weapons caches and observation posts in ground raids, Israel’s military said.
On Sunday night, it declared three more areas on its northern border as closed military zones in addition to more than five closed last week as military staging areas.
An Israeli strike on a building in the central mountain town of Kayfoun killed six people and wounded 13, Lebanon’s health ministry said. A strike in the nearby town Qmatiye killed six more, including three children, and wounded 11, it said.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 26 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office. The Israeli military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists”.
‘JOINT COMMAND’ LEADS HEZBOLLAH
In attacking Israel last week, Iran also cited assassinations of militant leaders, which have devastated Hezbollah’s senior ranks.
Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine was targeted by Israeli strikes on southern Beirut last week and his fate remains unclear. He is considered a likely successor to leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli attack last month.
Senior Hezbollah political official Mahmoud Qmati told Iraqi state television on Sunday that Israeli bombing was obstructing search efforts in an area where Safieddine had reportedly been targeted. He said Hezbollah was being led by a joint command until a leader was designated.
Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani also has not been heard from since Israeli strikes on Beirut late last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.
Israel began its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack a year ago on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people while more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.
Its campaign to eliminate Hamas has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian authorities say. The coastal enclave lies in ruins, and the United Nations says at least 1.9 million people — three-quarters of the population — are internationally displaced.
The conflict in Lebanon, which started a year ago with cross-border strikes by Hezbollah in solidarity with Hamas, has rapidly expanded in the past couple of weeks.
Snubbing a U.S.-backed push for a ceasefire, Israel began ground operations in Lebanon and pushed ahead with a wide air campaign that has pummelled Lebanon and displaced 1.2 million people displaced, according to Lebanese government figures.
The blasts early on Sunday sent booms across Beirut and sparked flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away. Later in the day, rubble was strewn across streets in the southern suburbs, while smoke columns rose over the area.
“Last night was the most violence of all the previous nights… There were dozens of strikes – we couldn’t count them all – and the sounds were deafening,” said Hanan Abdullah, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israel said its air force conducted targeted strikes on Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and infrastructure.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in nearly a year of fighting, most in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The ministry said on Sunday that 25 people were killed on Saturday.
The United Nations’ refugee chief said on Sunday that there were “many instances” where Israeli airstrikes had violated international law by hitting civilian infrastructure and killing civilians in Lebanon.
Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, while Lebanese authorities say civilians have been targeted. Israel accuses both Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari and Laila Bassam in Beirut, Phil Stewart in Washington. Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Jaidaa Taha and Hatem Maher in Cairo, Elwely Elwelly in Dubai.; Writing by John Davison and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Alison Williams, Frances Kerry and Diane Craft)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.