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Beirut burns as huge blasts rip through Lebanon's capital in another night of airstrikes by Israel - as Hezbollah fire rocket salvo at Israeli city of Haifa

A.Davis2 hr ago
Beirut has been left burning after huge blasts ripped through Lebanon's capital in another night of airstrikes by Israel .

The new round of airstrikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs late on Sunday, with large fireballs seen from miles away and loud booms ringing out over the darkened skyline.

The strikes signified the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel's military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

This comes as Hezbollah fired a rocket salvo at the port city of Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, with shrapnel injuring several people.

Israel's military said at least five projectiles were identified coming from Lebanon and 'fallen projectiles' were found in the area, though it was not immediately clear whether these pieces of shrapnel were from rockets or interceptors.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military base with the rocket salvo, the third attack on a military position in the area in one day.

Hezbollah fighters launched 'a salvo of Fadi 1 rockets at the Carmel base south of Haifa,' late Sunday the group said in a statement, having earlier reported two attacks on another base also south of Haifa.

The group dedicated the attack to its leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs last month.

The renewed strikes on Beirut came just a day after Israel's heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on September 23. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel confirmed the strikes on Beirut and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.

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.

'It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,' resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it 'a night of terror.'

One strike on Sunday killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. 'This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,' said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for residents of southern Beirut late on Sunday in advance of further strikes.

In southern Lebanon, Israeli soldiers hit Hezbollah's underground infrastructure, weapons caches and observation posts in ground raids, Israel's military said.

On Sunday night, it declared three more areas on its northern border as closed military zones in addition to more than five closed last week as military staging areas.

An Israeli strike on a building in the central mountain town of Kayfoun killed six people and wounded 13, Lebanon's health ministry said. A strike in the nearby town Qmatiye killed six more, including three children, and wounded 11, it said.

Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon.

At least 26 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.

The Israeli military said it had conducted 'precise strikes on Hamas terrorists'.

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