Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in what it’s calling a preemptive strike

Up to date August 25, 2024 at 16:58 PM ET

The Israeli navy mentioned early on Sunday that it had launched a sequence of preemptive strikes in opposition to Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon primarily based on intelligence it says indicated that the militant group was planning an assault.

Israel Protection Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a video on X that the navy acted in “self protection” to “take away these threats.”

Hezbollah mentioned it was in a position to launch rockets and drones in opposition to Israel on Sunday, which the group mentioned was in response to the killing of one in every of its prime commanders in July. The IDF said Sunday that the group had launched “over 150 projectiles” towards Israel.

U.S. Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Sean Savett mentioned President Biden was “intently monitoring occasions in Israel and Lebanon.”

The most recent wave of assaults comes as Egypt hosts a brand new spherical of cease-fire talks aimed toward getting Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas nearer to a deal for a cease-fire in Gaza, after nearly 11 months of preventing between the 2 sides following the shock assault in opposition to Israel on Oct. 7.

Talks have been set to renew on Sunday after Israel and worldwide mediators — together with the U.S. — despatched delegations to Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Israel’s strikes in opposition to Hezbollah on Sunday weren’t “the tip of the story,” the Instances of Israel reported. He made the feedback throughout his weekly cupboard assembly.

Netanyahu mentioned he needed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah — in addition to Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — to know that the operation was “one other step on the trail to altering the scenario within the north and returning our residents safely to their properties.”

Iran has offered cash and weapons to each Hezbollah and Hamas.

On Sunday, Nasrallah mentioned in a public handle that Hezbollah delayed its retaliatory assault in opposition to Israel due to current Israeli and U.S. navy mobilization within the space, The Guardian reported.

Nasrallah mentioned the group was focusing on an Israeli navy intelligence base exterior Tel Aviv — not civilian infrastructure — and that it started its assault a half hour after Israel’s preemptive strikes began.

Three folks have been killed within the strikes in Lebanon, the well being ministry mentioned. The IDF mentioned an Israeli soldier on a Navy vessel was killed and two others have been wounded in the course of the assault, in response to the Instances of Israel.

The IDF said it struck greater than 40 Hezbollah targets and that Israeli fighter jets destroyed “1000’s of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels, aimed for instant hearth towards northern and central Israel.”

Hezbollah and Iran had been threatening to launch assaults on Israel after the killings final month of prime Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

However officers in Israel, Lebanon and past appeared cautious of letting Sunday’s assaults escalate right into a wider battle.

Nasrallah mentioned Hezbollah would “assess the affect of immediately’s operation” and will assault once more “if outcomes are usually not seen to be sufficient.”

Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin concerning the “significance of avoiding regional escalation and dealing collectively to make sure Israel’s protection in addition to regional stability.”

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