Israel bombs Lebanon and Gaza ahead of one-year anniversary of Oct 7 attacks

JERUSALEM - Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Oct 6 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.

Hezbollah rockets launched late on Oct 6 got past Israeli air defence systems and landed in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, causing damage to buildings, police said. Israeli media reported 10 people wounded in rocket strikes in Haifa and the city of Tiberias.

Hezbollah said it had targeted a military site south of Haifa with a salvo of Fadi 1 missiles.

Israeli air strikes battered Beirut’s southern suburbs on Oct 6 in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah in September.

Large fireballs lit the darkened skyline and booms reverberated across Beirut.

The Israeli military said fighter jets struck targets in Beirut belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and weapons storage facilities. It said strikes also targeted Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct 6 vowed victory and said his country’s military “completely transformed reality” in the year since Hamas’ Oct 7 attack, which has left the country fighting two wars.

Mr Netanyahu told troops Israel “will win” as it battles militants in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and prepares to strike Iran.

Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi said that, one year on, “we have defeated the military wing of Hamas”.

Mr Netanyahu had pledged to “crush... and destroy” the militants as fighting began in October 2023, but troops have returned to several areas across Gaza where they had previously conducted operations against Hamas, only to find militants regrouping.

Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel from Gaza at the start of the Oct 7 attacks that year.

The Hamas attacks that day killed 1,200 people and more than 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.

They provoked an Israeli offensive in Gaza that has laid waste the densely populated coastal enclave and killed almost 42,000 people, according to the Palestinian health authorities.

On the eve of the anniversary, pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested against Israel around the world from Jakarta to Istanbul and Rabat after rallies in major European capitals, Washington and New York on Oct 5.

Iran launched a missile attack on Israel last week in response to its operations in Lebanon and Gaza, where Hezbollah and Hamas militants 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.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct 6 Israel would decide independently how to respond to Iran even though it was closely coordinating with longtime ally the US.

“Everything is on the table,” Mr Gallant, who is due to meet US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Oct 9, said in an interview with CNN. “Israel has capabilities to hit targets near and far – we have proved it.”

While the US has said it would not support strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, US President Joe Biden said last week that Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil facilities were being discussed.

Israel snubbed a US-backed push for a ceasefire in launching ground operations in Lebanon.

On Oct 6, the US government reacted to Israel’s heavy bombardment there by saying that military pressure can enable diplomacy but can also lead to miscalculations.

French President Emmanuel Macron said over the weekend that shipments of arms to Israel should be stopped. Israel said such a step will serve the purposes of Iran.

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for residents of southern Beirut late on Oct 6 in advance of further strikes.

On the night of Oct 6, Israel 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 mountain town of Kayfoun in central Lebanon 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 people, it said.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 26 people were killed and 93 wounded when Israeli air strikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people on Oct 6, 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 in September.

Senior Hezbollah political official Mahmoud Qmati told Iraqi state television on Oct 6 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 has not been heard from since Israeli strikes on Beirut late last week, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters.

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.

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 Oct 7 that 25 people were killed on Oct 6.

“Last night was the most violent of all the previous nights,” said Mr Hanan Abdullah, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs. “There were dozens of strikes – we couldn’t count them all – and the sounds were deafening.”

The United Nations’ refugee chief Filippo Grandi said on Oct 6 there were “many instances” where Israeli air strikes 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 civilian harm, while the Lebanese authorities say civilians have been targeted. Israel accuses both Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny. REUTERS, AFP