Hezbollah rockets hit Israel's third largest city Haifa early on Monday as the country looked poised to expand ground incursions into southern Lebanon on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread conflict across the Middle East.
An Israeli police officer inspects the damage to a residential building caused by a rocket fired towards Israel from Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Haifa, Israel, October 7, 2024. Reuters/Rami Shlush
Hezbollah rockets hit Israel's third largest city Haifa early on Monday as the country looked poised to expand ground incursions into southern Lebanon on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread conflict across the Middle East.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group fighting Israel in Gaza, said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with a salvo of "Fadi 1" missiles and launched another attack on Tiberias, 65 km (40 miles) away.
The growing conflict has raised fears that the United States, Israel's superpower ally, and Iran will be sucked into a wider war in the oil-producing Middle East.
Israeli police confirmed that rockets had struck Haifa, also a major port, and local media said 10 people were wounded there.
Israel's military, in a statement, said five rockets were launched at Haifa from Lebanon, adding: "Interceptors were fired. Fallen projectiles were identified in the area. The incident is under review."
It said 15 other rockets were fired inland at Tiberias in Israel's northern Galilee region, some of them intercepted. Israel media said a further five rockets hit the Tiberias area.
Police said some buildings and properties were damaged, and there were reports of minor injuries, with some people taken to a nearby hospital.
Israel intercepted early on Monday two aerial targets launched from the east after sirens went off in the central areas of Rishon Lezion and Palmachim, the military said on the first anniversary of the deadly, cross-border Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that ignited the Gaza war.
It gave no further details of the source of the drones.
By Steven Scheer and Yomna Ehab
Israel's military will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, the first time Israel has clearly spelled out its intent to seize swathes of territory that make up nearly a tenth of Lebanon.
Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed the bombing of the Islamic Republic's power plants and other energy infrastructure because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.
An Israeli precision strike hit a residential apartment building in Hazmieh - a predominantly Christian neighborhood east of Beirut - Monday afternoon, killing at least one person in what the IDF described as a targeted hit on a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force.
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