According to police, Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, resulting in reports of ten injuries in the northern part of the country on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread throughout the Middle East.
Hezbollah, which is allied with Hamas, the Palestinian militant organization engaged in conflict with Israel in Gaza, stated that they targeted a military base south of Haifa using a barrage of “Fadi 1” missiles.
Reports indicated that two rockets hit Haifa along Israel’s Mediterranean coast, while five struck Tiberias, located 65km away.
Police reported damage to several buildings and properties, with some individuals sustaining minor injuries and requiring transport to a nearby hospital.
In the past few hours, airstrikes targeted Hezbollah weapon storage sites in the Beirut region, with military officials noting secondary explosions, suggesting the presence of weaponry.
Airstrikes also targeted Hezbollah installations in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area, which included munitions storage facilities, infrastructure sites, a command center, and a launcher, according to military sources.
Israeli activists displayed placards during a demonstration advocating for a ceasefire in the northern city of Haifa.
The military accused Hezbollah of deliberately embedding its command centers and weaponry beneath residential buildings in central Beirut, thus endangering civilians, a claim that the Lebanese group vehemently refutes.
Israeli citizens commemorated the first anniversary of the Hamas assault that initiated a conflict sparking global protests and threatening to escalate into a broader regional crisis in the Middle East.
Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and southern Israel were scheduled to commence around 6:29 AM, marking the hour when Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel at the onset of the attack on October 7 of last year.
This assault resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities and around 250 hostages being taken to Gaza, based on Israeli statistics.
Hamas’s actions led to an Israeli offensive in Gaza that devastated the coastal enclave and claimed nearly 42,000 lives, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Security forces across Israel are on high alert, as military and police anticipate potential Palestinian attacks planned to coincide with the anniversary of October 7.
For Israel, the surprise offensive by the Palestinian militant group represented one of the gravest security lapses for a nation that values its robust and advanced military capabilities.
A man strolls past the remnants of a building destroyed by Israeli attacks in Beirut.
The Hamas assault on Israeli settlements near Gaza and Israel’s ongoing retaliatory actions have destabilized the Middle East, while the extensive death toll and destruction have shocked people globally.
Israel maintains it has dealt substantial blows to both Hamas and Hezbollah through a series of high-profile assassinations of their leaders, as part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” which additionally includes Yemen’s Houthi movement and armed factions in Iraq opposing Israeli and US interests in the region.
Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, who traveled to Lebanon following last month’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike, has been out of contact since the strikes on Beirut late last week, as disclosed by two senior Iranian security officials to Reuters.
One official indicated that Mr. Qaani was present in the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as the Dahiyeh, during a strike that reportedly targeted senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine, clarifying that he was not in a meeting with Mr. Safieddine.
The Quds Force, which operates as the international arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, oversees interactions with Iran-aligned militias throughout the Middle East, including Hezbollah.
A Palestinian family arrives in Gaza City after evacuating their residences in the Jabalia region.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan perished alongside Mr. Nasrallah in their bunker when it was struck by Israeli bombs on September 27.
As the war progresses, the focus has increasingly shifted north to Lebanon, where Israeli forces have engaged in exchanges of fire with Hezbollah since the group launched a rocket offensive in support of Hamas on October 8.
What began as limited daily conflicts has escalated into bombardments targeting Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut and an Israeli ground incursion into border villages aimed at neutralizing Hezbollah fighters, thereby permitting tens of thousands of Israelis, evacuated from northern areas, to return home.
Israel’s bombardments, resulting in over 1,000 fatalities in the last two weeks alone, have precipitated a mass exodus from southern Lebanon, with more than 1 million individuals displaced.
This escalation has heightened apprehensions regarding the involvement of both the United States and Iran in a broader conflict within the oil-rich Middle East.
Last week, Iran launched a missile strike against Israel in retaliation for its actions in Lebanon and Gaza, where Hezbollah and Hamas serve as Iran’s allies within the so-called Axis of Resistance.
Israel, asserting that securing the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to their northern homes is its primary objective, has promised retaliation amidst fears that the growing tensions could evolve into an all-out regional war potentially involving the US.
