IDF attacks Hezbollah military targets after Joe Biden admits he’s worried about terrorist organization getting involved in Israel-Hamas war
The Israeli military claims it has carried out rocket attacks on Hezbollah military targets near the border with Lebanon over the past 24 hours after President Joe Biden raised concerns about the terror group.
One of the many targets they hit was a military observation post in the northern city of Rosh Hanikra, they tweeted on Thursday.
One of its tanks also hit two anti-tank guided missiles in southern Lebanon in anticipation of an attack.
A third was a drone strike targeting a terror cell in Israel’s Malkia area, towards the border.
The IDF said the rocket attacks were in response to shooting incidents in Israel over the past day.
The Israeli army claims it has carried out rocket attacks on Hezbollah military targets on the border with Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
The border between Israel and Lebanon has become somewhat controversial amid the war raging in the aftermath of the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and IDF responses.
There have been reports of Hezbollah attacks and rockets fired from northern Lebanon towards northern Israel, the Times of Israel reported.
It comes after US President Joe Biden said he was concerned about the involvement of Iran-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.
The US is increasing its travel advisory and allowing non-aid workers to leave Lebanon after the embassy in Beirut was targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters who set fire to the complex.
US military groups used smoke and gas to disperse protesters who gathered near the embassy after an attack on a hospital in Gaza. Hours after the protests began, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the travel advisory.
“The Department has authorized the voluntary, temporary departure of family members of U.S. government personnel and certain non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut due to the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon,” the announcement said.
White House officials have been in contact with Hezbollah figures, Axios reported, urging them to resign.
Hezbollah has said it will stand with Hamas.
The Pentagon has deployed two aircraft carriers to the region, the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Dwight Eisenhower.
White House officials have held several meetings to prepare for a scenario in which U.S. military force would be used if Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel, Axios said.
Biden spent seven and a half hours in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies.
His visit came as anger spread across the region over an explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which Israel blamed on a failed Palestinian rocket and which the Pentagon confirmed. Hamas blames Israel.
The US president told Netanyahu that he “fully supported” Israel’s plans to invade Gaza and “eradicate Hamas.” The times from London.
Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and IDF chief of staff who has joined his rival Netanyahu’s war cabinet, warned Biden that the raid could take “years.” Axios reported.
Biden spoke to reporters on his way back from Israel, on Air Force One, but did not confirm US support for the invasion. The White House has not commented.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, are pictured in Tel Aviv on Wednesday
The sun rises over Israeli tanks massed on the Gaza border on Wednesday
In the photo, Israeli troops are positioned along the Gaza border on Wednesday
On Wednesday, an Israeli soldier patrols the border between Israel and Gaza
Biden is seen speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday, en route from Israel. Behind him are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby
Sources told The Times that Biden urged Israel to show restraint as it enters Gaza and demanded that Israel allow humanitarian aid from Egypt into the devastated enclave.
Biden called Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, from Air Force One as he flew home to confirm the deal, and publicly thanked Sisi as he spoke to reporters on the plane.
Sisi “deserves a lot of credit” for allowing humanitarian aid to flow, Biden said.
“He was completely cooperative,” Biden said, adding that he “went the extra mile — just like Bibi.”
Twenty trucks full of aid are allowed to drive from Egypt to Gaza. Shipments are likely to begin Friday, The Times reported, because the road leading there has been bombed and needs repairs before the trucks can pass.
Biden said the UN will be responsible for distributing aid in Gaza, and there may be a second shipment if the first goes well.
“If Hamas seizes them or doesn’t let them through, that’s the end of it,” Biden said.
His government has been answering questions for days about how to create humanitarian corridors for Palestinian residents of Gaza to flee amid an Israeli evacuation order.
“We are going to get people out,” he said, after discussing the issue with Netanyahu during his trip and also providing humanitarian aid.
“I was very blunt about the need to get humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Biden and Netanyahu are seen after their meeting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday
The two men are seen embracing as Biden arrives in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning
There was no word on what would happen in Gaza after the Israeli invasion, and Biden made no mention of any discussion with reporters about the future of the enclave.
Biden privately asked Israeli officials what they wanted to do with Gaza after the invasion, Axios reported. The Israelis responded that they had not yet made a decision and were still working on the first attempt.
Biden publicly urged Israelis not to be “consumed” by anger and to “think clearly about objectives.”
He stressed that Israel must not make the same mistakes as the United States after the September 11 attacks – a clear reference to the invasion of Iraq.
Israeli officials are concerned about keeping the international community on their side, Axios reported, and have remained publicly vague about what will happen to Gaza.
Eli Cohen, the foreign minister, suggested to Army Radio Israel that he planned to reduce Gaza’s geographic size, The Times reported.
“At the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, but Gaza’s territory will decrease,” he said.
Biden’s team is happy that Netanyahu bought his political opponents, Benny Gantz and former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot, into the war cabinet, Axios reported.
Gantz told Biden that the effort to dismantle Hamas “could take years,” Axios sources said.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, told Biden that “it will be a long and difficult war, and Israel will need American support for a long time,” an aide to Gallant said.