Israeli military says ‘limited’ operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon has begun

Israeli military says ‘limited’ operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon has begun


Rescuers dig through the rubble of a building, a day after it was hit in an Israeli strike, in the southern Lebanese village of Ain El Delb on September 30, 2024. 

Mahmoud Zayyat | Afp | Getty Images

The Israeli military says it has begun 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 has been planned in recent months and was launched after approval by political leaders.

The Israeli military launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border on Monday as Israeli artillery pounded southern Lebanon and signals grew that more forces could soon be sent across the border to fight the Iran-backed militants.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel informed the U.S. about the raids, which he said were described as “limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.”

A view of debris of the building, where Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah lost his life, after Israeli army’s airstrike, carried out by F-35 fighter jets, in Dahieh, Beirut, Lebanon on September 29, 2024.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

The sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut and smoke rose from the capital’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate.

There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, who last engaged in ground combat on Lebanese soil during a monthlong war in 2006.

But a Western diplomat in Cairo whose country is directly involved in de-escalation efforts said an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon is “imminent.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Israel had shared its plans with the U.S. and other Western allies, and conveyed the operation will “be limited.”

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for families to return to their homes near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.



Source

New FEMA head says he will ‘run right over’ staff who resist his changes
Politics

New FEMA head says he will ‘run right over’ staff who resist his changes

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Headquarters is seen in Washington, DC, February 11, 2025. Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images David Richardson, the new head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told staff on Friday he will “run right over” anyone that resists changes and that all delegation of authority in the agency is […]

Read More
Trump backs tax hike on the rich, but says GOP ‘probably’ shouldn’t do it
Politics

Trump backs tax hike on the rich, but says GOP ‘probably’ shouldn’t do it

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 6, 2025. Kent Nishimura | Reuters President Donald Trump on Friday tepidly backed the idea of raising taxes on the richest Americans, while openly wrestling with the politics […]

Read More
Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter dies at 85
Politics

Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter dies at 85

Portrait de David Hackett Souter. Jeffrey Markowitz | Sygma | Getty Images Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter died Thursday at his home in New Hampshire, the court said in a statement. He was 85 years old. Souter, who was appointed to the high court in 1990 by his fellow Republican, President George H.W. Bush, […]

Read More