Israel Airstrikes Pound Beirut on Gaza War’s Anniversary

Beirut’s southern suburbs in Lebanon were battered by Israeli airstrikes on Sunday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel started its attack against Iran-backed Hezbollah a month back.

It was the single biggest attack of Israel on Beirut so far, claimed military analysts.

Israel said its air force had “conducted a series of targeted strikes on a number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beirut”.

Lebanese authorities did not immediately say what the missiles had hit or what damage they caused.

Israel’s airstrikes across Lebanon and its ground invasion in the south of the country is aimed at the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah backed by Iran.

The Lebanese health ministry on Sunday said that 23 people had been killed on Saturday.

Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on September 27. A Lebanese security source said on Saturday that Hashem Safieddine, Nasrallah’s potential successor, had been out of contact since Friday after an airstrike targeted him near the Beirut airport.

Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after the October 7 attacks and aimed at eliminating Hamas, another Iran-backed group, has killed nearly 42,000 people, Palestinian authorities say. At least 26 people were killed and 93 others were injured when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, claimed the Hamas-run Gaza government media. The Israeli military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists”.

Israeli authorities said on Saturday that nine Israeli soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon so far.