Lebanon says over 400,000 fled to Syria in around 2 weeks

Lebanon's government said on Monday that more than 400,000 people had fled an Israeli escalation against Lebanese group Hizbollah across the border into Syria in less than two weeks.

More than 300,000 of those who escaped from Sept.23 to Saturday were Syrians returning to their war-torn country, while more than 102,000 were Lebanese, a governmental crisis unit said.

Hizbollah fired rockets at Israel's third largest city Haifa on Monday as Israeli forces looked poised to expand ground raids into south Lebanon on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread conflict across the Middle East.

Hizbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with "Fadi 1" missiles and launched another strike on Tiberias, 65 km away.

Hizbollah said it targeted areas north of Haifa in a second salvo of missiles later in the day. Israel's military said around 135 projectiles had entered Israeli territory on Monday as of 5:00 pm.

Ten people were reported injured in the Haifa area and two others further south in central Israel.

The military said the air force was carrying out extensive bombings of Hizbollah targets in south Lebanon, and that two Israeli soldiers were killed in border-area combat, taking the military death toll inside Lebanon so far to 11.

It said it also carried out a targeted strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, where a thick plume of smoke could be seen.

Lebanon's health ministry said 10 firefighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a municipal building in the border-area town of Bint Jbeil, and that other aerial attacks on Sunday killed 22 people in a swathe of southern and eastern towns.

An Israeli military statement said five rockets were launched towards Haifa, also a major Mediterranean port, from Lebanon and interceptors were fired at them. "Fallen projectiles were identified in the area. The incident is under review."

It said 15 other rockets were fired inland at Tiberias in Israel's northern Galilee region, some of which were shot down. Israel media said five more rockets hit the Tiberias area later.

Israel also intercepted two drones launched early on Monday from the east after sirens blared in the central areas of Rishon Lezion and Palmachim, the military said.

Hamas meanwhile targeted Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv with a missile salvo, the group said, setting off sirens in central areas of the country.

Many Israelis have regained confidence in their long vaunted military and intelligence apparatus after a series of deadly blows to the command structure of Hizbollah in Lebanon in recent weeks.

Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs were again pounded by airstrikes overnight as Israel extended an aerial campaign on the area where Hizbollah has its headquarters.

Israeli airstrikes have displaced 1.2 million people in Lebanon and as the bombing campaign intensifies, many are afraid their country will face the vast scale of destruction wrought on Gaza by Israel's air and ground onslaught there.

Agencies