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

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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.

Hezbollah rockets launched late on Sunday 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 Sunday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month. 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.

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

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 Sunday Israel 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.”

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.

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

On Sunday, the U.S. 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 Sunday in advance of further strikes.

On Sunday night, 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, 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.

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 Sunday that 25 people were killed on Saturday.

“Last night was the most violent of all the previous nights,” said 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 said on Sunday 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 civilian harm, 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 and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari and Laila Bassam in Beirut and 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, Cynthia Osterman and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Alison Williams, Frances Kerry, Diane Craft and Lincoln Feast.)