On the eve of the anniversary of Israel-Palestine war, Israel launched its heaviest air strikes yet on Beirut

The Anniversary of Israel-Palestine war

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated dramatically, particularly following intensified Israeli air strikes on southern Beirut, which have resulted in significant destruction and civilian casualties. The strikes are a response to ongoing rocket fire from Hezbollah and come on the eve of the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The situation has been exacerbated by the reported deaths of key Hezbollah leaders, including Hassan Nasrallah, and the targeting of their stronghold in Dahiyeh, which has severely weakened the organization’s leadership. Concurrently, the broader conflict in Gaza has seen a high toll on civilians, with claims of tens of thousands of deaths attributed to Israeli military operations, while Iran’s missile response to the situation has raised concerns about a wider regional conflict.

Key Concepts

• The Israeli Air Force intensified air strikes on southern Beirut, marking a significant escalation against Hezbollah.
• Witnesses described the air strikes as the most violent incident by the Israeli military in Beirut, causing widespread destruction.
• The Israeli military targeted weapons depots and infrastructure linked to Hezbollah in its airstrike campaign.
• The escalation coincides with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack, which caused significant casualties in Israel.
• Ongoing rocket fire from Hezbollah into northern Israel prompted intensified Israeli military responses, leading to civilian casualties in Lebanon.
• The Dahiyeh area in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, has faced severe bombardment following the reported killing of key Hezbollah leaders.
• The disappearance of senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine could significantly impact the organization’s leadership and Iranian support.
• The Israeli Defense Forces are also engaged in operations against Hamas militants in Gaza amid the heightened conflict.
• The ongoing conflict has resulted in substantial civilian displacement in Lebanon, with hundreds of deaths reported.
• Iran’s missile attack on Israel in response to the assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders did not cause significant damage.
• Israel has threatened serious consequences against Iran, raising concerns about the potential for broader conflict in the Middle East.

The Israeli Air Force continued its air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut in the early hours of Sunday (October 6), which began on Saturday night. The intensity of the strikes was greater than at any time since Israel sharply stepped up its attacks on the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.

Reuters reported that the shock wave caused by the Israeli army’s large-scale bombing at night shook the entire city of Beirut, and people could witness the red and white flashes caused by the explosion that lasted nearly 30 minutes from several kilometers away.

Witnesses and military analysts interviewed on local television said this was the most violent single attack by the Israeli army on Beirut so far.

After dawn on Sunday, Beirut was shrouded in a gray haze, the streets in the southern suburbs were littered with rubble, and columns of smoke rose from the ground.

“Last night was the most violent of all the nights. The buildings around us were shaking. I began to think it was an earthquake. There were dozens of air strikes, we couldn’t count, and the explosions were deafening,” Hanan Abdullah, a resident of the Burj al-Barajneh area in the southern suburbs of Beirut, told Reuters.

Videos circulating on the Internet showed that the highway from Beirut Airport through Beirut’s southern suburbs to downtown Beirut was dotted with new craters.

The Israeli military said that the Israeli Air Force “carried out a series of targeted strikes on some weapons depots and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Beirut area.”

Reuters said the Lebanese government did not immediately announce which facilities were hit by Israeli missiles or what damage the Israeli attacks caused.

The Israeli military’s fierce air strikes on Hezbollah this weekend came on the eve of the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, triggering the Israeli-Palestinian war. In order to support and coordinate Hamas’s fight against the Israeli army in Gaza, Hezbollah has fired rockets into northern Israel almost every day for a year, forcing tens of thousands of Israeli residents in the border area to flee their homes.

Israel’s airstrikes and ground strikes in Lebanon are aimed at leaders and militants of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Lebanese officials said that the Israeli airstrikes and ground strikes have killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and left 1.2 million people homeless.

The Dahiyeh area in the southern suburbs of Beirut is considered an important stronghold of Hezbollah, so it has been subjected to fierce air strikes by the Israeli army in recent days. The Israeli army also killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrullah, in an air strike on September 27. However, there are also thousands of ordinary Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian refugees living here.

Reuters quoted a Lebanese security source on Saturday as saying that Hashem Safieddine, another senior Hezbollah leader who could have succeeded Nasrallah, had been missing since Friday and that he was reportedly targeted in Israel’s airstrike on Thursday near Beirut International Airport.

Lebanese security personnel said the Israeli army continued to bomb the target areas to prevent rescue workers from entering the area.

Hezbollah has yet to comment on Saffieddin’s fate and whereabouts.

Reuters said that if Saffieddin was killed in an attack, it would be a major blow to Hezbollah and its backer Iran. Israel’s air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut over the past year, especially the sharp escalation in recent weeks, have severely damaged the entire Hezbollah leadership, leaving almost all of its senior leaders wiped out.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the Israeli-Palestinian war, the Israel Defense Forces continued to clear out Hamas militants in Gaza on Sunday.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza government’s press office said Israeli air strikes early Sunday morning hit a mosque and a school housing homeless people in Gaza, killing 26 people and injuring 93.

After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, the Israeli army immediately entered Gaza and launched a counterattack and retaliation against Hamas militants. According to statistics from the health department of Gaza controlled by Hamas, the Israeli military operations have caused the deaths of nearly 42,000 people. However, the Israeli army believes that among these deaths are tens of thousands of Hamas militants.

Iran launched about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the bombing of Hezbollah’s top leader Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but the missile attack did not cause any substantial damage to Israel.

Israel has vowed to strike back at Iran with “serious and significant” consequences, but how and against what targets are still unclear. There are concerns that the conflict in the Middle East will spill over and expand further.