Israel escalates bombardment of Beirut

Airstrikes reduced entire apartment buildings to rubble and knocked out electricity in swaths of the Lebanese capital Sunday as Israel dramatically escalated the ferocity of its campaign after Hezbollah rockets hit the northern city of Haifa. Before the attack on Haifa, Israel had already unleashed its worst bombardment yet in southern Beirut, a teeming Shiite districts where Hezbollah has its headquarters. A series of 18 explosions rocked the city before sunrise. The airstrikes started again soon after the Haifa attack, which killed at least eight people.