Beirut is hit by airstrikes as Israeli military targets Hezbollah weapons warehouse

Israel has struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 attack.

One year on from the October 7 attack, violence continues to rage in the Middle East.

The unprecedented attack by Hamas militants in Israel resulted in the death of 1205 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry.

The one-year anniversary comes as Israel engages in a fresh round of bombing in Lebanon against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and prepare to retaliate against Iran following a missile barrage last week, raising fears of an even wider conflict.

Follow for updates on the Middle Eastern conflict.

IDF hits multiple Hezbollah targets in Beirut

The IDF said it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut on Sunday evening, ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 attack.

Israel’s military said it struck weapons storage facilities and infrastructure while taking measures “to mitigate the risk of harming civilians”.

In a later statement, it said the latest strikes had “struck Hezbollah terrorist targets and weapons storage facilities in Beirut”.

Earlier on Sunday evening, Israel military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an “urgent warning” to the residents of the southern Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath to leave.

“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, and the IDF (Israeli military) will operate against them in the near future,” he added in a statement on X.

Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford, currently in Beirut, reported “large plumes of smoke” and “big explosions” had lit up the sky.

“We have seen real intense bombing over the past two weeks but that has moved up a gear or two over the past few days,” she told Sky News UK.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in Beirut late October 7. Picture: Etienne Torbey/AFP

The IDF said it struck multiple Hezbollah target. Picture: Etienne Torbey/AFP

Rockets hit Israeli port city

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at an Israeli military base near the northern port city of Haifa on Sunday, the third attack on a military position in the area in one day.

Hezbollah fighters launched “a salvo of Fadi 1 rockets at the Carmel base south of Haifa,” the group said in a statement, having earlier reported two attacks on another base also south of Haifa.

Israeli media is reporting that at least 10 people have been injured in the attack in Haifa – home to nearly 300,000 people.

Israel Police said officers and police bomb disposal experts are addressing multiple sites and managing debris from the rockets. It noted some buildings have been damaged.

The group dedicated the attack to its leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs last month.

The IDF shared footage of what appears to be debris scattered on a road in Haifa following the attacks.

“Haifa after being struck by Hezbollah rockets on the night before #October7,” it captioned footage on X.

The port city of Haifa has come under attack from Hezbollah.

Rockets have hit the northern port city of Haifa. Picture; IDF/X

The IDF shared footage of the destruction on social media. Picture; IDF/X

The IDF earlier said five projectiles which crossed Lebanese territory were identified and attempts were made to intercept them.
It confirmed Hezbollah had fired over 120 projectiles across the border Sunday.
Military and security analyst Elijah Magnier warned the attack sends a clear message to Israel.

“Targeting the harbour, it’s a different message that Hezbollah is sending to the Israelis and [it] is saying that they can cause even further damage, not only on the military infrastructure that is in Haifa but also on the chemical products here,” Mr Magner told Al Jazeera.

“Imminent catastrophe”

The latest violence could lead to an “imminent catastrophe” in the Middle East, the United Nations special co-ordinator for Lebanon has warned.

“With the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: there is NO military solution that will make either side safer,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote in a post on X.

19yo policewoman killed in Israel shooting

A young policewoman has been killed and 10 others injured in a suspected terror attack in Israel on Saturday local time.

Border policewoman Shira Chaya Suslik, 19, was killed after a gunman open fired at a bus station in the Israeli city of Beershebain, local authorities said.

Police called it a suspected terrorist attack and said the assailant was killed.

Israel’s Transport Minister Miri Regev called for the families of “terrorists” to be deported in a statement on social media following the attack.

“The time has come for a deterrent punishment to prevent the attacks on Israeli territory,” she wrote on X.

Shira Chaya Suslikin, 19, was killed in the shooting. Picture: Israeli police

Israeli PM says: ‘We will win’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday his country’s military “completely transformed reality” in the year since Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Netanyahu told troops Israel “will win” as it battles militants in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and prepares to strike Iran, almost exactly a year since the unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas militants sparked the Gaza war.

In late September, Israel turned its focus north, intensifying military action against Iran-backed Hezbollah which had been sending rockets over the border from Lebanon in support of Hamas for nearly 12 months.

“A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow. Over the past 12 months, we have completely transformed reality,” Netanyahu told troops during a visit to the Lebanon border, his office said.

“The whole world admires the blows you are delivering to our enemies, and I salute you”, he said.

“Together, we will fight, and together we will win – with God’s help.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops Israel “will win”. Picture: Ohad Zwigenberg / Pool / AFP

October 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial

Commemorations for the October 7 attack began in Israel’s Tel Aviv on Sunday at a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas onslaught at the Nova music festival.

Picture of those killed appeared on a screen at the entrance to the ceremony, as hundreds gathered to light candles at a makeshift shrine, leave handwritten notes or simply embrace each other.

“Coming to this event one year after this terrible massacre that happened on October 7, it’s very touching, it’s very breathtaking,” said one of the event’s organisers Solly Laniado.

“Three days ago, we were not even going to hold the event at all,” he said, citing the deluge of rocket warnings and last week’s missile attack on Tel Aviv that have left many people on edge and large parts of the usually vibrant city empty.

“It’s a difficult day,” said Omri Sasi, 35, one of the producers of last year’s festival who survived the attack.

By his own estimate he lost roughly 50 friends that day, including an uncle, a pregnant cousin and her husband.

A yellow ribbon along with the number 365, signifying the number of days since the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, is projected along with pictures of the victims of the attacks along the old city walls of Jerusalem. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP

The two-day festival in the fields around Kibbutz Reim was just beyond the Gaza border in southern Israel and attracted over 3,000 attendees from October 6 and 7.

At least 370 people were killed at the Nova rave in the Negev desert, making it the deadliest location during the October 7 attack.

The attack was part of an onslaught of violence unleashed by Palestinian Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1205 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.

Some 251 people were captured and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, of whom 97 are still held captive in the coastal territory, including 37 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the United Nations.

– With AFP

Originally published as Beirut is hit by airstrikes as Israeli military targets Hezbollah weapons warehouse