Israeli airstrikes have displaced 1.2 million people in Lebanon, and Israel’s intensified bombing campaign has worried many Lebanese that their country will experience the vast scale of destruction wrought on Gaza by Israel.
Israeli forces issued a warning in Arabic to beachgoers and boat users to avoid a stretch of the Lebanese coast, saying they would soon begin operations against Hezbollah from the sea.
About 2,000 Lebanese have been killed since Hezbollah began firing at Israel a year ago in solidarity with Hamas, most killed in the past few weeks.
The Israeli military has described its ground operation in Lebanon as “localised, limited and targeted”, but it has steadily increased in scale beginning last week.
The Israeli Defense Forces says its aim is to clear border areas where Hezbollah fighters have been embedded, with no plans to go deep into Lebanon.
Israelis held ceremonies and protests on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas as the Gaza conflict has spread across the Middle East and fanned fears of an all-out regional war.
Hamas, which has seen the Palestinian territory of Gaza laid waste by Israel’s war, vowed to rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes despite heavy losses from a year of fighting.
On Monday, Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally in Lebanon, said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with “Fadi 1” missiles and launched another strike on Tiberias, 65km away.
The armed group later said it also targeted areas north of Haifa with missiles. Israel’s military said about 190 projectiles entered its territory on Monday. There were at least 12 injuries.
Israel’s military said the air force was carrying out extensive bombings of Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon and two Israeli soldiers were killed, taking the Israeli military death toll inside Lebanon to 11.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported dozens of deaths, including 10 firefighters killed in an airstrike on a municipal building in the border area.
