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Israel Strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Preempting ‘Extensive Attack’

Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, August 25, 2024. Photo: Reuters TV via REUTERS

JNS.orgThe Israel Defense Forces launched a preemptive strike on Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon early on Sunday, after detecting preparations on the Iranian proxy’s part to launch an “extensive” attack.

Approximately 100 Israeli warplanes launched simultaneous strikes on some 40 Hezbollah targets, destroying over 6,000 missiles and drones, according to the IDF.

The strike targeted missile launchers that had been programmed to fire at 5 a.m. at multiple targets in Israel, including targets in the Tel Aviv area, the New York Times reported, citing a western intelligence official. “All the launchers that were targeted were destroyed and Israel [anticipates] a harsh response from Hezbollah,” the official said.

Since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, Hezbollah has launched more than 6,700 rockets, missiles and armed drones at the Jewish state, leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands from northern Israel.

“Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah’s attacks on our civilians,” said IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari on Sunday morning. “We are operating in self-defense … We are ready to do everything—everything—we need to defend the people of Israel.”

According to Lebanese media outlets affiliated with Hezbollah, the group launched some 320 drones and missiles during the attack, and struck two “high-quality” military targets. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah will deliver a speech later in the day with more details, according to the report.

The Iranian proxy stated that its attack on Sunday morning was in response to Israel’s assassination in Beirut last month of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

כ-100 מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונת פיקוד הצפון ואגף המודיעין, תקפו והשמידו אלפי קני שיגור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שמוקמו והוטמנו במרחב דרום לבנון. רובם כוונו לעבר הצפון וחלקם לעבר מרכז הארץ.

כמו כן, הותקפו למעלה מ 40 מרחבי שיגור pic.twitter.com/aw2QPUnYfl

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 25, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had met, and Netanyahu planned to convene the Security Cabinet at 7 a.m. local time, per his office.

Gallant declared a “special situation on the home front” for the next 48 hours, a “declaration on the state of emergency [that[] enables the IDF to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant,” per the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Gallant and U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin had also spoken on Sunday Israel time, shortly before midnight in Washington, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

“We have conducted precise strikes in Lebanon in order to thwart an imminent threat against the citizens of Israel,” Gallant told Austin, according to an Israeli readout of the call. “We are closely following developments in Beirut, and we are determined to use all the means at our disposal in order to defend our citizens.”

Gallant and Austin “discussed the importance of avoiding regional escalation,” and Gallant “emphasized that Israel’s defense establishment is determined to defend the citizens of Israel and will use all the means at its disposal to remove imminent threats,” per the Israeli readout. “The defense establishment is following developments in Beirut and is prepared to deploy defensive and offensive means.”

U.S. President Joe Biden “is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon,” stated Sean Savett, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “He has been engaged with his national security team throughout the evening.”

“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts,” Savett added. “We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability.”

“Since Oct. 7, Hezbollah has been firing rockets against Israel, displacing up to 100,000 Israelis from their homes and communities—an unacceptable loss of sovereignty that no other country, including our own, would ever accept,” stated Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.).

“Israel is no exception to the rule of self-defense,” Torres added. “The Jewish state has a right to respond to the relentless rocket-fire from Hezbollah, which stands as the most heavily armed terrorist organization in the world and the most powerful proxy for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“In addition to responding to 10 months of relentless rocket fire, Israel is acting on the basis of U.S.-Israeli intelligence revealing an imminent major attack from Hezbollah,” he said. “Hence the need for an Israeli strike that is both preemptive and defensive all at once.”

Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, stated that “Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets at Israel since Oct. 7.”

“Israel could not sit back and wait for thousands more to be fired into Israel, so tonight it struck preemptively to protect innocent civilians,” he added. “Israel has the right to defend itself and the obligation to protect its citizens in the face of ongoing Hezbollah attacks.”

This is a developing story.

This preemptive strike by #Israel comes as the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff is in the Middle East and plans to visit Israel. https://t.co/p5ECG7E3w1

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 25, 2024

The post Israel Strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon, Preempting ‘Extensive Attack’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays

A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 NewsAhead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.

The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.

“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.

“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.

The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”

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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives

Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.

Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.

The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.

Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.

“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.

ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK

He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.

US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.

Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.

Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.

It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.

Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.

Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.

Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.

“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.

Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.

Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.

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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas

i24 NewsAn Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.

Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.

Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.

On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”

A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”

Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.

Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.

Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.

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