Israeli forces continued their attacks on Lebanon, sending more ground troops across the border and pounding Beirut with a new wave of airstrikes, as the conflict that has engulfed the region reached the one-year mark on Monday.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has also imposed a naval blockade on a 60-kilometer stretch of Lebanon’s southern Mediterranean coast, warning civilians that going to the beach or taking boats out to sea 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 rockets fired at Israel by Houthi militants in Yemen, about 2,000 kilometers away. The Houthis later claimed they had successfully hit targets in the Tel Aviv area.
Late Monday evening, Israeli warplanes hit targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut, security sources said. South Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut are considered hotbeds of the Lebanese militant Islamist Hezbollah movement.
Hezbollah is a powerful Iranian-backed militia that has long been 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 parking garages to escape Israeli shelling.
The sound of two huge explosions was heard throughout the capital, and large orange smoke covered the area of Chiyah, located on the southwestern edge of Beirut’s suburbs.
Security sources also said at least two rockets were fired near the al-Kokoudi area, a few kilometers from Beirut international airport, which remains operational despite Israeli strikes sometimes hitting very close to it.
At least 10 Lebanese rescue workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a municipal building near Bint Jbeil, according to Ministry of Health and Security sources. The fire brigade was said to have been in the building at the time of the bombing.
Lebanese broadcaster LBCI reported that the attack targeted a building of the Islamic Health Authority, an umbrella organization of Hezbollah that operates hospitals in the country.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its attacks near Tire and Nabatieh and other places in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of more than 20 villages in the south, a sign of further attacks to come.
On Monday, more Israeli ground troops from the IDF’s 91st Division also moved into southern Lebanon, and the IDF released a video apparently showing its soldiers in Lebanese territory.
The Israeli army appears to be concentrating on an area near the towns of Adaisseh and Kafrkela in southeastern 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 it had launched a rocket attack on a group of soldiers in the border town of Maroun al-Ras.
Strikes through Hamas in Gaza
The Israeli Air Force has attacked a command center of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said early on Monday.
The command center was located in the Deir al-Balah area of central Gaza, embedded in the Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital, the IDF said.
In the same area, the army had previously said it had attacked Hamas command centers located in a former school and a former mosque.
The information could not be independently verified.
More rockets fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel
Northern Israel also came under attack from Lebanon, with 135 rockets fired by the Shiite militia Hezbollah by midday, according to the army.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, while the rest landed on open ground. Here too, no information was initially available about possible victims or damage.
In recent weeks there have been several rocket alerts in Tel Aviv due to attacks from Iran, Lebanon and Yemen. The last time Hamas attacked Tel Aviv with rockets was in August.
A year of war
The conflict, which began exactly a year ago, began when fighters from Hamas and other extremist groups invaded Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Israel retaliated with massive attacks that led to the deaths of more than 41,800 people, the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza said. Hamas does not distinguish between militant and civilian deaths in the figures, which cannot be independently verified.
The conflict has now resulted in two barrages of drones and missiles fired directly at Israel from Iran, the most recent last week.
The Iranian government warned Israel on Monday against launching a counterattack in response to the Islamic Republic’s rocket attack.