Israeli forces pressed forward with attacks on Lebanon, sending further ground troops across the border and pounding Beirut with a new wave of airstrikes, as the conflict that has engulfed the region hit the one-year mark on Monday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also imposed a naval blockade on a 60-kilometre-long stretch of Lebanon’s southern Mediterranean coast, warning civilians that going to beaches or heading out to sea on boats is “life threatening” until further notice.
In Tel Aviv and central Israel, air-raid sirens warned of incoming rockets launched by Hamas as well as missiles fired at Israel by Houthi militants in Yemen, roughly 2,000 kilometres away. The Houthis later claimed that they had successfully hit targets in the Tel Aviv area.
Late on Monday evening, Israeli warplanes hit targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, security sources said. Southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut are considered hotbeds of the Lebanese militant Islamist Hezbollah movement.
Hezbollah is a potent Iranian-backed militia long opposed to Israel, and is also an influential political force in Lebanon.
War in Lebanon
Earlier on Monday, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over the capital, causing panic among thousands of displaced people, who took refuge in schools and car parks to escape the Israeli shelling.
The sound of two huge explosions was heard across the capital, and large orange smoke covered the area of Chiyah, which is located on the south-western edge of Beirut’s suburbs.
Security sources also said that at least two rockets were fired near the area of al-Kokoudi, a few kilometres from Beirut International Airport, which is still operating despite the fact that Israeli strikes hit very close to it at times.
At least 10 Lebanese rescue workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a municipal building near Bint Jbeil, according to the Health Ministry and security sources. Firefighters were said to have been in the building at the time of the bombing.
Lebanese broadcaster LBCI reported that the attack targeted a building belonging to the Islamic Health Authority, a Hezbollah umbrella organization operating hospitals in the country.
Meanwhile Israel continued its attacks near Tyre and Nabatieh and other places in southern Lebanon.
Israel’s army ordered the evacuation of more than 20 villages in the south, a sign of further impending attacks.
More Israeli ground troops from the IDF’s 91st division also moved into the south of Lebanon on Monday, and the IDF released a video apparently showing its soldiers on Lebanese territory.
The Israeli army appears to be concentrating on an area near the towns of Adaisseh and Kafrkela in the south-east of Lebanon and around Bint Jbeil in the south.
Further skirmishes have been reported between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers in these areas. Hezbollah said on Monday that it had launched a missile attack on a group of soldiers in the border town of Maroun al-Ras.
Strikes on Hamas in Gaza
The Israeli Air Force attacked a command centre of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said early on Monday.
The command centre was located in the Deir al-Balah area in central Gaza embedded within the Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital, the IDF said.
In the same area, the army had earlier said that it attacked Hamas command centres that had been located in a former school and a former mosque.
The information could not be independently verified.
More missiles fired by Hezbollah at northern Israel
Northern Israel also came under attack from Lebanon, with 135 missiles fired by Shiite militia Hezbollah by the afternoon, according to the army.
Some of the missiles were intercepted, while the rest came down in open terrain. Again, no information was initially available about possible victims or damage.
In recent weeks, there have been multiple rocket alerts in Tel Aviv due to attacks from Iran, Lebanon and Yemen. The last time Hamas targeted Tel Aviv with rockets was in August.
A year of war
The conflict, which began exactly one year ago, started when fighters from Hamas and other extremist groups invaded Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage.
Israel retaliated with massive attacks that have resulted in what the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says are more than 41,800 people killed. Hamas does not distinguish between militant and civilian deaths in the figures, which cannot be independently verified.
The conflict has now seen two barrages of drones and missiles fired from Iran directly at Israel, the most recent last week.
The Iranian government on Monday warned Israel against launching a counter-attack for the Islamic Republic’s missile attack.
