The Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning Monday to Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas. “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said, just days after an airstrike south of Beirut killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is backed by Tehran.
Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, promised the group will fight on following the death Friday of its long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also assassinated several of the group’s top commanders in recent days. Kassem said the group’s fighters are ready and the slain commanders have already been replaced.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas sent fighters into Israel and sparked the war in Gaza. It’s been almost a year since some 250 people were abducted from Israel, and friends and family are worried about their loved ones as attention turns away from hostages and north toward Lebanon.
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Here is the latest:
Lebanon’s army says it’s redeploying troops along the border with Israel
BEIRUT — The Lebanese army says it redeployed troops in some observation points along the border with Israel.
The army did not give further details about the posts. It said the Lebanese military is coordinating with United Nations peacekeepers deployed along the tense border area.
The army’s statement Tuesday denied local media reports that troops have moved several kilometers (miles) away from the border ahead of a possible Israel ground operation.
Thousands of Lebanese troops were deployed along the border with Israel following the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Israel asks people not to enter parts of south Lebanon under ‘intense fighting’
BEIRUT — The Israeli military says parts of south Lebanon are witnessing “intense fighting” and called on people not to enter the area south of the Litani River.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted Tuesday on X that people should not drive into the area south of the Litani River. The area has dozens of towns and villages close to the Israeli border.
Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, said Monday the group will fight any Israeli troops who try to occupy parts of Lebanon. Israeli said its ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a yearlong war against its Iranian-backed adversaries.
Italy’s premier calls for an ‘urgent and necessary’ de-escalation
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that “a de-escalation at regional level is urgent and necessary.”
“The protection of civilians remains the priority along with guaranteeing the security of the Italian military contingent of UNIFIL present in southern Lebanon,” she said in a statement.
Italy, which holds the G7 rotating presidency, is working with allies to stabilize the situation along Israeli-Lebanon border, and to help people who have been displaced by the fighting return to their homes, Meloni said.
The Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border.
Evacuations from Lebanon via Cyprus are ‘slow and controlled so far’
NICOSIA, Cyprus — The foreign minister of Cyprus says evacuations of third-country nationals from Lebanon to the east Mediterranean island nation are “slow and controlled so far.”
Minister Constantinos Kombos told The Associated Press on Tuesday that large-scale evacuations from Lebanon have not begun, even as Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants.
Kombos said Cyprus has received some staff from foreign diplomatic missions and some Saudi nationals a few days ago. About 60 Chinese nationals are due to arrive by ship at the island nation’s main port of Limassol.
Cyprus has agreements with around a dozen countries to act as a temporary host for their evacuated nationals before their repatriation. Under the “Estia” plan, evacuees will be processed and given accommodations for a few days before catching flights to their home countries.
Cyprus helped repatriate hundreds of British and other third-country citizens who were evacuated from Sudan in 2023. In 2006, some 60,000 foreign nationals evacuated from Lebanon during a month-long Israel-Hezbollah war used Cyprus as a waystation before heading abroad.
Hezbollah targets Israeli soldiers across the border
BEIRUT — Overnight and Tuesday morning, Hezbollah said it targeted groups of soldiers in several Israeli border areas with artillery shelling and rockets. It was not immediately clear if any soldiers were hit.
The militant group has been firing at locations near the border, and claiming to have hit soldiers there, since Oct. 8, in solidarity with Hamas. It has not commented on the Israeli military announcement that it had started a ground incursion.
Suspected Yemen Houthi rebel attacks target shipping in Red Sea
Suspected attacks Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted at least one ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.
The attack comes as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders and the earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia. The Houthis had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over the country.
The first attack Tuesday morning took place some 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships traveling through a waterway that once saw $1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center later reported a second attack north of the first. The private intelligence firm Ambrey similarly reported two separate attacks. However, it wasn’t immediately clear if the same vessel had come under attack again.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, they sometimes take hours or days to acknowledge one of their assaults.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
US National Security Council says Israel’s ‘limited operations’ are within its right to self-defense
WASHINGTON — The White House National Security Council said Israel’s “limited operations” to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure across the border were in line with the country’s right to defend itself.
The NSC, however, warned that the an expansion of that operation was a risk. It added that a diplomatic solution was the only way to achieve lasting stability along Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon in an offensive targeting Hezbollah. The Israeli military said Tuesday it has begun a limited ground operation against Hezbollah targets that were an an immediate threat to northern Israeli communities.
“This is in line with Israel’s right to defend its citizens and safely return civilians to their homes. We support Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah and all Iranian-backed terror groups. Of course, we know that mission creep can be a risk and we will keep discussing that with the Israelis,” the NSC said.
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that he agreed on the need for a ground offensive inside Lebanon to rid the border area of Hezbollah weapons and other means it can use to carry out attacks across the border.
In the call, Austin said the U.S. supports Israel’s right to defend itself and discussed Israel’s military operations.
“We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border,” Austin said in a statement posted on X.
Israeli military says it has begun ‘limited, localized’ operation in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military said Tuesday that it began a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
It said it was carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
It announced early Tuesday that the operation was planned in recent months and was launched after approval by political leaders.
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