Israel strikes Beirut with ‘heaviest bombardment’ on eve of Oct 7 attacks

Israel Iran conflict live updates: Israel continued its relentless bombardment of Hezbollah’s “military sites” across Beirut and its southern suburbs on Sunday, as October 7 marks a year since Hamas attack on Israel, an immediate trigger for the ongoing war. News agency Reuters reported military analysts saying Israel’s strikes on Sunday marked the single biggest attack of Israel’s assault on Beirut so far, as sparks of strikes could be seen several kilometres away.

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 organisation in the area of Beirut”.

Cross border exchange of fire continued to escalate as Hezbollah responded with rocket attacks on the Israeli port city of Haifa which left at least 10 dead and several injured.

Meanwhile, Hamas praised Hezbollah for its overnight rocket strikes at northern Israel. It also called the October 7 attack on Israel as “glorious” and said it “shattered the illusions the enemy had created for itself, convincing the world and the region of its supposed superiority and capabilities”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed victory and said his country’s military “completely transformed reality” in a year since the war began.

United Nations’ refugee chief Filippo Grandi said that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon violated international humanitarian law by hitting civilian infrastructure and killing civilians. He appealed to all parties to “stop this carnage that is happening both in Gaza and in Lebanon today”.