Middle East latest: Fireballs light up Beirut sky during Israeli attacks as Haifa hit by rockets
Israel authorities said they were on the lookout for attacks timed to coincide with the October 7 anniversary
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Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip on Sunday ahead of the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
Late on Sunday night, Beirut’s southern suburbs came under renewed Israeli bombing with large fireballs and loud booms over the darkened skyline. It followed further evacuation orders from the IDF in the capital.
Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque in Gaza earlier in the day killed at least 19 people.
Rocket sirens and blasts were also heard in Haifa in northern Israel late on Sunday, with Hezbollah claiming the attack which injured at least 10.
Israel’s military said at least five projectiles were identified coming from Lebanon in the incident.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it was treating a teen with shrapnel injuries to the head and a man who fell from a window due to a blast.
A separate Israeli strike earlier on Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
‘Shame on you’ Netanyahu hits back at Macron for call for arms embargoes
“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.
“Yet, President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said shipments of arms used in the conflict in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution.
“I think the priority today is to get back to a political solution (and) that arms used to fight in Gaza are halted. France doesn’t ship any,” Macron told France Inter radio.
Israel will retaliate against Iran when the time is right, military spokesman says
Israel will retaliate against Iran for the missile attack launched by Tehran when the time is right, a military spokesman said on Saturday.
“The way in which we respond to this disgraceful attack will be in the manner, at the location and the timing which we decide, according to the political leadership’s instructions,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a broadcast statement.
Israeli military spokespersonconfirms two Israeli airbases were hit in Iran’s Tuesday attack, says air force and bases remain fully operational
IDF say Israel must continue strikes on Hezbollah
IDF Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi says that Israel must continue to strike Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We must continue exerting pressure on Hezbollah and creating additional and lasting damage to the enemy.
“Without relief and without allowing a respite for the organization,” he says in remarks provided by the IDF.
Arrests made as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gather in London
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in central London on Saturday ahead of the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel.
Officers have made 15 arrests so far, the Metropolitan Police said, as part of a “significant” policing operation across the capital in response to the planned protest and memorial events.
One person was arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation, and there were seven arrests on suspicion of public order offences – three of which were allegedly racially aggravated.
Arrests made as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gather in London
Officers have made 15 arrests so far as part of a ‘significant’ operation, the Metropolitan Police said
25 people and 127 wounded in Friday strikes
Twenty five people were killed and 127 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs with a dozen airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters. Tens of thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
Lebanon's migrant workers stuck in limbo as thousands flee conflict
Migrant worker Fajima Kamara came to Lebanon three years ago from Sierra Leone, but when Israeli jets started pounding her neighbourhood with airstrikes last month, her employers left her jobless and homeless.
The 28-year-old mother-of-three had been working as a domestic helper for a Lebanese family in the eastern city of Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold.
When they evacuated they told her to go and find her “fellow African sisters” in the capital, Beirut, Kamara said.
With her phone and passport still confiscated by her employers and no time to pack, Kamara left Baalbek with nothing but the clothes she was wearing and made her way among the thousands of other displaced people to Beirut, where she hoped to find somewhere to stay.
Turned away by local shelters that were taking in displaced Lebanese, she soon found herself homeless and living on the city streets.
“I slept on the street for two days. Now I have fever,” Kamara told reporters between sneezes.
Australia starts evacuating nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus
Australia started evacuating its nationals from Lebanon via Cyprus on Saturday, in the first large-scale operation to get citizens out of the country amid an Israeli onslaught on Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Some 229 people arrived on the east Mediterranean island, which lies a 40 minute flight time from Beirut, on a commercial airline chartered by Australia. A second flight is scheduled later in the day.
More evacuation flights could be expected based on demand, Australian and Cypriot officials said.
At Cyprus’s Larnaca airport, civilians of all ages transferred from the aircraft into a terminal and then escorted onto waiting coaches. Children helped themselves to red apples and water provided by Australian military staff.
“They are exhausted, exceptionally happy to be here but heartbroken because they left family behind,” said Fiona McKergow, the Australian High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Cyprus.
More and more countries are using close hubs like Cyprus to assist in evacuations from Lebanon. Israel has sharply escalated attacks on Hezbollah in recent weeks, with a barrage of airstrikes and a ground operation in the south of the country, after nearly a year of lower-level cross-border conflict waged in parallel with Israel‘s war against Hamas in Gaza.
France's Macron says sales of arms used in Gaza should be halted
Shipments of arms used in the conflict in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday.
France is not a major weapons provider for Israel, shipping military equipment worth 30 million euros ($33 million) last year, according to the defence ministry’s annual arms exports report.
“I think the priority today is to get back to a political solution (and) that arms used to fight in Gaza are halted. France doesn’t ship any,” Macron told France Inter radio.
“Our priority now is to avoid escalation. The Lebanese people must not in turn be sacrificed, Lebanon cannot become another Gaza,” he added.
Macron’s comments come as his Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is on a four-day trip to the Middle East, wrapping up on Monday in Israel as Paris looks to play a role in reviving diplomatic efforts.
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