US says it’s preparing for ‘significant’ Iran attack on Israel as early as ‘this week’
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is underway conducting a composite training unit exercise, March 6, 2012. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Jerine Lee/U.S. Navy, FILE)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House is warning that the United States assesses Iran could launch a retaliatory attack on Israel as early as “this week,” and that the U.S. has to be prepared for an attack that could be “significant.”
The warning comes as the U.S. has bolstered its force posture in the Middle East and has been very public in announcing its military moves — something U.S. officials say is intended to deter Iran from possibly attacking and de-escalate tensions in the region.
That includes the Pentagon’s announcement Sunday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln’s arrival to the region was being “accelerated,” as well as the rare public announcement that the guided missile submarine USS Georgia was being sent to the Middle East from its current deployment.
The U.S. assessment is in line with a reported Israeli assessment of a possible Iranian retaliatory attack as soon as this week, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday.
“We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here, could be this week,” Kirby said.
“We have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks,” he added.
A Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukr, and a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, were killed in separate incidents last month. Israel took responsibility for the strike that killed Shukr but has not said if it was also behind the attack that killed Haniyeh in Tehran, which Iran has blamed on Israel.
The recent assassinations of Shukr in Beirut and Haniyeh in Tehran have the Middle East on edge that Iran could retaliate against Israel by once again launching a strike toward Israel, as it did in mid-April.
On Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to discuss the escalating tensions in the Middle East, and the increased force posture by the U.S. in the region.
“The president is confident that we have the capability available to us to help defend Israel, should it come to that,” Kirby said.
“Nobody wants to see it come to that, which is why we continue to have these diplomatic conversations in earnest over the last few days to see what can be done to de-escalate this situation,” he continued.
U.S. officials told ABC News that the announcement about the USS Georgia’s deployment was intended as a message of deterrence to Iran about the continued presence of the U.S. military in the region, and that the United States is capable of surging military resources as needed.
In April, hundreds of Iranian drones and ballistic missiles were brought down by a combination of U.S. and Israeli aircraft, as well as Israeli and U.S. air defense systems, officials have said.
Ahead of that attack, the U.S. had quietly moved in additional aircraft and vessels to the region to assist Israel. This time, the United States has been public in announcing it was sending an additional squadron of Air Force F-22 aircraft, carrier-based Navy F/A-18s to a base on land, and deploying additional destroyers and the Lincoln to the region.
U.S. officials said the public announcements are intended to send a message to Iran that American military capabilities could be used against an Iranian attack.
One U.S. official indicated the deployment of the USS Georgia — and the 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles aboard — also sends a strong message of significant offensive capability.
The Lincoln strike group is currently in the South China Sea and may take some time to arrive in the Middle East to replace the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, currently off the coast of Oman.
One U.S. official said its arrival will give U.S. military planners more options for carrier operations as the situation develops in the coming weeks, which could impact whether there is a simple handoff or if both carriers end up operating in the region.
“We obviously don’t want to see Israel have to defend itself against another onslaught, like they did in April. But if that’s what comes at them, we will continue to help them defend themselves,” Kirby said.
On Monday, the State Department said it would continue its diplomatic push to encourage Iran to scale down any retaliation.
“We continue to work diplomatically to prevent any major escalation in this conflict,” deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said. “We obviously don’t want to see any kind of attack or response happen in the first place.”
Multiple officials within the department say they are still cautiously optimistic Iran will limit the scope of its retaliation and hope it will avoid significant escalation out of concern it would disrupt cease-fire deal talks the U.S., Egypt and Qatar aim to relaunch on Thursday.
A joint statement issued by the mediators last week urging both sides to return to the table was designed not only to pressure the parties involved but as a message to Iran that an agreement was in the offing and meant to persuade the country against military action that could scuttle a deal, according to an official.
However, Hamas issued an announcement on Sunday saying it would not participate in the upcoming round of negotiations, casting significant doubt over whether talks would indeed resume.
A public spat playing out between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over support for a hostage release and cease-fire deal also threatens to undercut messaging to Iran signaling that a deal was in reach.
Despite the uncertainty, Patel said mediators “fully expect talks to move forward as they should” in order to “bring this deal to conclusion.”
Holly Hennessy, a passenger on Villa Vie Odyssey, speaks with ABC News. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Passengers planning to travel the world on a three-year cruise are speaking out as they remain stuck on land, waiting for their ship to depart.
Holly Hennessy said she has been stuck in Belfast, Ireland, for three months as she and her fellow passengers wait for the cruise ship, the Villa Vie Odyssey, to be repaired.
“It’s cold. It’s windy. It’s damp. It usually rains,” Hennessy told ABC News’ Good Morning America, describing the past three months in Belfast. “I’ve been moved five times to different accommodations.”
Johan Bodin and his partner Lanette Canen have spent the past three months traveling around Europe as they wait for the ship to depart from Belfast. The couple relocated from Maui, Hawaii, to spend the next several years on the Villa Vie Odyssey, according to their website, where they post travel content.
“We intend to stay on for a long haul, but who knows how we feel after a year,” Bodin told GMA.
Bodin and other passengers on the Villa Vie Odyssey, operated by Villa Vie Residences, have been waiting since May for the cruise to depart.
Mikael Petterson, the founder and CEO of Villa Vie Residences, told GMA the Villa Vie Odyssey is a 30-year-old ship. He said the ship made the trip to Belfast on its own power before other maintenance issues were discovered.
“The rudder stocks took six weeks to get done, and now we’re dealing with a couple of other things,” Petterson said. “But overall, I think three months is actually not that bad given the circumstances.”
Petterson added that the ship’s repairs are in their final stages, and said he expects the ship to depart the week of Sept. 9.
The cruise is advertised to visit 475 destinations in 147 countries. The price to purchase an all-inclusive cabin starts at around $100,000, with an additional monthly fee for at least 15 years.
While the Villa Vie Odyssey has been out of commission, passengers are allowed on the ship during the day but cannot stay overnight, staying in hotel rooms in Belfast instead.
For passengers who are using the time to travel, Villa Vie Residences has helped them plan trips.
Canen said she and Bodin are optimistic that after months of delays, they will sail out of Belfast soon.
“Hopefully by next weekend, we’ll be floating away, saying goodbye to Belfast,” Canen said.
(WASHINGTON) — The grisly discovery of six murdered hostages in a tunnel under Gaza over the weekend has sent U.S. officials scrambling to devise a new strategy to advance the already beleaguered negotiations aimed at securing a cease-fire deal and allow dozens of detainees to return home.
“Our team is still working to try to get this to closure,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday. “Not that we didn’t have a sense of urgency before — we certainly did, but the killings over the weekend, the executions is the only way to put it, just underscores how important it is to keep that work alive and keep going.”
The Biden administration is now crafting a new framework for a hostage release and cease-fire agreement with its partners Qatar and Egypt and expects to present a finalized, all-encompassing proposal to Israel and Hamas in the coming days, according to a U.S. official.
But Kirby refuted reports that it would be presented to both sides as a “take it or leave it” option and declined to say what would happen if both Israel and Hamas didn’t accept the forthcoming proposal.
“I’m not using that phrase,” he said. “I am simply going to refuse to speculate about what might happen or what might not happen.”
On Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Health said that after examining the bodies of the six recovered hostages, it determined they were shot at close range and killed shortly before they were recovered.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deaths, saying his “insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive.”
Sources told ABC News that although the Israel Defense Forces was not conducting a rescue operation at the time the hostages are thought to have been killed, specialized units were operating under Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, nearby where the hostages were being held.
“I think when you see an order like that, it shows just what a depraved group we are dealing with in Hamas, when they make clear that they will execute innocent human beings rather than let them be rescued,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Two U.S. officials familiar with ongoing cease-fire talks said representatives from Hamas did not warn mediators that it would begin executing detainees to thwart Israel’s attempts to recover them by any means other than negotiating their release.
However, a Hamas spokesperson said Monday that guards had been operating under instructions to kill hostages in their custody if Israeli forces neared their locations since June, when the IDF successfully freed four hostages in a raid that killed dozens of Palestinians.
High stakes, little leverage
Despite stuttering progress, the Biden administration argues that negotiations were picking up steam in recent days.
“We did have constructive talks last week in the region to try and reach agreement on the final gaps,” Miller said Tuesday. “We made progress on dealing with the obstacles that remain, but ultimately, finalizing an agreement will require both sides to show flexibility.”
But despite immense pressure from the Israeli public, Netanyahu indicated on Monday that he would not back down from his demand that the IDF must maintain a presence in the strategic Philadelphi corridor between southern Gaza and Egypt — a major sticking point in the talks.
Kirby hit back at the prime minister, saying his insistence ran counter to agreements the Israeli government had already made.
“I’m not going to get into a debate with the prime minister,” Kirby said, asserting that multiple draft agreements agreed to by Israel over the last several months called for the removal of the IDF from all densely populated areas of Gaza, including the Philadelphi corridor.
“That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to and again,” he said.
Pressure builds on Biden after Israeli strike kills dozens of civilians in Rafah
While the United States has considerable diplomatic sway over Israel, it has much less leverage over Hamas. Through the negotiations, the administration has had little insight into the thinking of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, whom Secretary of State Antony Blinken describes as “the primary decider” in cease-fire negotiations.
Experts see Hamas’ apparent brutalist shift and the execution of hostages near the Philadelphi corridor as a play to push IDF troops away from the area, which could allow the group to rearm. Israel has not indicated that it will continue to pursue rescue missions or alter any operations along Gaza’s southern border.
The prospect of a broader conflict in the Middle East could also hinge on progress in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Iran has blamed Israel for carrying out an attack in Tehran that killed Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in late July and vowed to retaliate. Israel took responsibility for a strike in July that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr, but has not said if it was also behind the attack that killed Haniyeh in Tehran.
It’s not clear why Iran has not yet carried out its threat, but U.S. officials believe Tehran may be wary of thwarting Gaza cease-fire negotiations.
The hostages still in Gaza
Even before the killing of the six hostages, U.S. and Israeli officials had already assessed that a deal might free a relatively small number of detainees — assessing that fewer than 50 were still living. Officials say there are now 97 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Even before the discovery of the slain hostages, U.S. officials told ABC News that only around a dozen hostages might initially be freed if Israel and Hamas agreed to the framework that was partially outlined by President Joe Biden in May. At least three of the detainees who were discovered dead in the tunnel — including dual American Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23 — would have been among them, they say.
Twelve American citizens were taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. Two were released in late October, and two more were freed in November as part of a cease-fire deal.
Of the eight Americans who remain detained in Gaza, four have been declared dead. U.S. and Israeli officials believe that four others — Edan Alexander, 19; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Omer Neutra, 22, and Keith Siegel, 65 — could be alive.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Mahmoudiye on September 24, 2024. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Netanyahu says operation in Lebanon will continue
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation in Lebanon will continue, despite international calls for a diplomatic resolution to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
“I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing, we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes. We are inflicting blows on Hezbollah that [the group] did not imagine. We do it with power, we do it with guile. I promise you one thing — we will not rest until they come home,” Netanyahu said.
Biden says ‘all-out war’ is possible in the Middle East
When asked about how real the threat of a wider war in the Middle East really is, President Joe Biden said “an all-out war is possible,” but added that there’s still the opportunity for a resolution contingent on Israel changing “some policies.”
“We’re still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” Biden said, in an interview on “The View,” which covered a range of topics.
“The Arab world very much wants to have a settlement, because they know what it does for them. They’re willing to make arrangements with Israel and alliances with Israel, if Israel changes some policies.”
Biden said he has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he said that there “needs” to be a two-state solution.
“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen. There’s a way to do it, and they have a possibility,” Biden said.
Biden added that if a cease-fire agreement is reached in Lebanon, then they’ll have to deal with Gaza, but he insisted that he and his team are “using every bit of energy” to
Israel preparing a ground operation into Lebanon
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
“We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north,” Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
“To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians,” Halevi said.
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ‘wouldn’t solve the problem,’ Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “needs to be contained.”
“We’re working to make sure this doesn’t get into a full-scale war,” Blinken said.
Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: “I do.”
“Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve,” Blinken said, noting Hezbollah’s near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The “best way” to address Israel’s problems in the north, Blinken continued, “is through diplomacy.”
There were “a number of times” where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said.
“Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening,” he said.
“But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn’t solve the problem,” Blinken said.
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah’s “unprovoked” attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced,” the president said.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
“That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve,” Biden said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel’s ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Khamenei touted the “organizational and human strength and the authority and ability” of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks “martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah,” Khamenei wrote.
“This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah,” he added.
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday — citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
“Now probably they’re approaching half a million” Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes.”
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority,” Grandi said.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR’s count.
IDF in third day of ‘extensive strikes’ in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was again “conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area” to the east of Beirut.
Almost 600 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Hezbollah targets Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah claimed the launch of a Qadir-1 ballistic missile targeting the Mossad intelligence agency’s headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
“It is the headquarters responsible for the assassination of leaders and the bombing of pagers and hand-held radios,” the militant group said in a statement, referring to last week’s communication device explosions in Lebanon and Syria.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv amid the attack.
“One surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF later said in a social media post that it destroyed the launcher from which the missile was fired in southern Lebanon.
The launch at Tel Aviv is the first time Hezbollah has attacked the city in central Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah confirms death of division commander
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of rocket and missile division commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in a post on their Telegram channel.
Hezbollah said he was killed in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli air attack in Da’ahia in Beirut killed Qubaisi.
52 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, officials say
Israeli forces targeted eight residential homes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, killing at least 52 people, spokesperson Major Mahmoud Basal of the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said Tuesday.
At least five of those people were killed after a house in the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah, was targeted, the civil defense spokesperson added.
The IDF said they were conducting “precise, intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area” in a statement Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, foreign minister says
The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that “the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so.”
Habib spoke at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He expressed his “disappointment” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the U.N., saying it was “neither strong nor promising and will not solve this problem,” but said he “hopes that Washington can intervene to help.”
“Lebanon cannot end the fighting alone and needs America’s help, despite past disappointments,” Habib said, adding that the U.S. is “the only country that can truly make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.”
Mediators as far from a cease-fire deal as ever, US officials say
Mediators between Israel and Hamas are as far away from a cease-fire deal as they have ever been, with both sides impeding negotiations, multiple senior U.S. officials told ABC News.
Many officials have long been skeptical that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would ever sign off on an agreement that involves ceding rule of Gaza, and in recent weeks Hamas has deeply frustrated the Israeli government by adding demands related to Palestinian prisoners that would be released in an exchange.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also become increasingly intractable, according to U.S. officials. While high-level engagements between the U.S. and Israel often moved the needle at the beginning of the conflict, those meetings are now unproductive, officials said — a major reason Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t stop in Israel during his last visit to Middle East.
When it comes to these negotiations, the ball is actually in the Biden administration’s court. Blinken promised during the first week of September that the U.S. would present a new, final proposal to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days,” but almost three weeks later, there’s no indication that has happened yet.
The reason for the delay is the struggle to devise an arrangement both sides might agree to — but that’s just one more factor contributing to the gridlock, according to U.S. officials.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Shannon K. Kingston and Martha Raddatz
Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says
Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.
“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.
G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.
The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander
Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.
“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.
At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut
At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.
US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high
The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.
“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.
Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.
“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”
“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”
Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says
At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon
Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.
The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.
A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.
Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.
IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.
At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.
The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.
“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.
The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.
At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.
New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East
A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.
Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.
Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.
“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.
“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.
Afula is a city in northern Israel.
“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.
