BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — 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”.
REUTERS, Oct 6, 2024