Israel intensifies air strikes on two fronts

ISRAEL yesterday escalated military operations on multiple fronts with intense bombing and mass evacuation orders in Lebanon and Gaza.

- Giles Sheldrick

At least 30 strikes took place in Beirut overnight as Israel carried out some of its most violent strikes on the Lebanese capital.

Amin Salam, Lebanon economy minister, described Beirut as a "city under siege" as bombs rained down.

Elsewhere, Israeli jets struck a mosque in Gaza killing 26 people, Palestinian media claimed, while an empty car factory belonging to Iran was bombed in neighbouring Syria.

Israel has intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Beirut in its widening war on Iranallied militant groups across the region. Despite Israeli efforts, rocket barrages fired from Lebanon continued to trigger sirens and interception systems across the border yesterday. Israeli border guard Sgt Shira Chaya Soslik, 25, was killed in a terror attack.