RSS
US Did Not Help Israel Shoot Down Incoming Rockets, Drones From Hezbollah, Pentagon Says
Lebanese side of the border with Israel, seen from Tyre, Aug. 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
The US did not assist Israel in intercepting incoming rockets or drones fired by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon over the weekend, according to the Pentagon.
Though the US did not play a role in shooting down the projectiles, Pentagon officials said on Monday that America furnished Israeli agencies with intelligence. The Pentagon stated that direct US intervention was “not required” to neutralize the threat to Israel’s security.
“The US is prepared, as we’ve demonstrated in the past, to use force in order to support the defense of Israel,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. “In this particular situation, given the threat that was launched from Lebanese Hezbollah, there was no requirement for the US to employ any of our munitions or capabilities to help defend.”
“In other words,” Ryder continued, “Israel was able to do that with its own organic capabilities and systems.”
Israeli fighter jets early on Sunday destroyed thousands of drones and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, after detecting an imminent attack on the Jewish state.
Hezbollah, which is Iran’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, subsequently fired some 300 projectiles into Israel.
Several reports have confirmed Israeli claims that Hezbollah was preparing to target Israel with a major barrage.
The Pentagon claimed that it provided Israel with information regarding Hezbollah’s planned attack but added that it did not give Israel guidance on its preemptive strike against the Lebanese terrorist group.
“That was an Israeli decision to conduct those preemptive strikes based on information that they clearly had,” Ryder said, clarifying that the US was “not part of” those discussions.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on Sunday that the terrorist group carried out its strikes in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon late last month. Israel claimed responsibility for Shukr’s death.
Hezbollah has pummeled northern Israeli communities almost daily with barrages of drones, rockets, and missiles since the start of the Gaza conflict in October.
About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate Israel’s north during that time due to the unrelenting attacks. Most of them have spent the past 10 months living in hotels in other areas of Israel.
“What happened today is not the end of the story,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the preemptive strikes. [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes.”
On Monday, Ryder said the US will continue to assist Israel in thwarting potential attacks from neighboring countries in an effort to prevent the Middle East from becoming enveloped in a regional war.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack,” Ryder continued, “and we again remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense.”
In April, when Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil, the US and other allied countries helped Israel shoot down nearly all of the some 300 missiles and drones fired at the Jewish state.
The post US Did Not Help Israel Shoot Down Incoming Rockets, Drones From Hezbollah, Pentagon Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.