'Axis of Resistance' Hamas, Houthi, Hezbollah Conduct Joint Airstrikes on Gaza War's 1st Anniversary

Israel launches retaliatory airstrikes with 100 aircraft
US State Department urges avoiding airport bombings for evacuation

Armed factions from Palestine and Lebanon, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yemen's Houthi rebels, known as the 'Axis of Resistance,' launched airstrikes against Israel on the 7th (local time), marking one year since the outbreak of the Gaza Strip war.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, around 11 a.m. that day, five projectiles were detected flying from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Strip, triggering air raid sirens in central Israel, including Tel Aviv.

CNN reported that many of the rockets landed in central Israel, injuring two people with minor wounds. Around 1 p.m. the same day, five rockets launched from northern Gaza were all intercepted by the Israeli military.

[Image source=UPI Yonhap News]

At around 5:40 p.m., the Houthi rebels fired a surface-to-surface missile toward Israel, and Hezbollah joined in by launching about 190 rockets targeting a military intelligence base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem Post reported that approximately 10 people were injured in northern Israeli cities due to the bombardment.

Memorial events held across Israel to mark the one-year anniversary of the war were repeatedly interrupted by alarms, and attendees scrambled to find bomb shelters. Earlier, the Israeli military had anticipated a large-scale airstrike by Hamas on the war's first anniversary and preemptively bombed rocket launchers and tunnel facilities throughout the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his anniversary speech, stated, "As long as the enemy threatens our country's peace and hostages remain in Gaza, we will continue to fight," reaffirming that Israel's war objective is "to eliminate all future threats coming from Gaza toward Israel."

Israel issued a civilian evacuation order for the southern area of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and launched massive airstrikes. The Guardian reported that the Israeli military deployed 100 aircraft to concentrate strikes on about 120 locations within an hour. The Israeli military attacked Hezbollah's key organizations in southern Lebanon, including the Radwan special forces, missile and rocket units, and intelligence units, with fighter jets, and also bombed the Dahieh area in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah's leadership is based.

Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, urged the Israeli military not to attack Beirut airport and related roads, stating, "The airport and the roads leading to it must remain open so that citizens of the U.S. and other countries who wish to leave can do so."