Israeli defenses advance towards vital DC as Hezbollah extends ultimatum

It also includes a clip of a speech by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday: “If war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without restrictions, without rules, without limits,” he said.

The Israel-Lebanon border has been a battleground since October 7, when Hamas-led militants took control of southern Israel, sparking clashes in Gaza and attacks through Iran-backed proxies from Iraq to Yemen.

Israeli forces and fighters from Hezbollah – the Iranian-aligned party that is Lebanon’s most influential military and political force – have traded low-calibrated attacks, exchanging rocket, mortar and drone fire on an almost daily basis. Generational violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border, with little control so far.

However, the scope and intensity of the attacks has increased significantly in recent weeks, coinciding with sharp ultimatums from Israeli and Hezbollah officials, both of whom say they are ready for war – a nightmare situation that would threaten Europe, Washington. And officials in the surrounding area are worried it will devastate Lebanon, threaten key Israeli cities and consume Heart East.

“We are pursuing a diplomatic resolution to try to make it clear that there are no further tensions, and “We will continue to move forward on this.” Hochstein held some other talks in the area to create restraint.

But there is less and less hope that Washington’s diplomatic tug-of-war will be sustained. Western and Lebanese officials have expressed concern over the slow pace of talks toward resolving the border dispute in the coming months due to Hezbollah and Israeli intransigence.

Israel’s top minister Benjamin Netanyahu is stepping down from growing domestic power to put pressure on militants on the border and to allow displaced civilians to return to their homes in Israel’s north; Hezbollah has said it will continue fighting in the south of Lebanon until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, a possibility that would lead to more independence during this date.

Netanyahu said on Israeli TV on Sunday that as soon as the “intense phase of the war” in Gaza ends, “we will have the opportunity to move some forces to the north.”

“One hasty step – one miscalculation – could lead to a catastrophe far beyond limits and, frankly, beyond imagination,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. “The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford for Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

Lebanon is already a country on the brink of collapse, dominated by a weak caretaker government and ravaged by a financial crisis that has destroyed the banking system and left many people in poverty. .

On 12 June, Hezbollah announced that an Israeli strike had killed Taleb Sami Abdullah, the highest-ranking commander killed since 7 October. Senior Hezbollah leader Hachem Saffieddin vowed on Wednesday that the gang would respond by intensifying its operations “seriously, forcefully.” quantity and quality.”

Israel security forces reported drone strikes from Lebanon on Sunday, targeting an IDF outpost and a military field in the north.

During his visit to Washington, Gallant is scheduled to speak about the specifics of Gaza and Lebanon, as well as efforts to repatriate Israeli hostages held by Hamas, his workplace said in a comment. Gallant will meet with Security Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials.

“The United States is our most important and central ally,” Gallant said before departing Saturday night. “Our relationship is important at this time and perhaps more important than ever.”

White Space National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “Netanyahu has accused Washington of delaying the shipment of guns to Israel.” Defending those comments at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said: “My job is to do everything to ensure that our heroic fighters get the weapons they need.”

Opening a second main entry gate into Lebanon will put additional pressure on the Israeli army, which is still engaged in heavy fighting with Hamas in north and central Gaza, even as it says it is approaching its goals in the southern city of Rafah. Is. Hezbollah has a more efficient army and more complex weapons than Hamas, which had fought Israel to bloody stalemates in two previous wars in 2006 and 2016.

The mob blocked Israel from having a security expiration date after it published drone photos of an Israeli military base at the port of Haifa, exposing potential weaknesses in the country’s reputed air defense system. The video lists some potential targets, including Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion, energy plants in Ashkelon and Hadera, the plutonium-based facility in Dimona, the Leviathan gas meadow, a giant gas meadow in the Mediterranean Sea. Including the plain and Ashdod. , home to a shipment port.

Analysts say a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon would likely spread briefly across the region, triggering reactions from Hezbollah’s allies in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran – which Tehran calls an “axis of resistance”. As described. On Saturday, an editorial in the Hezbollah-aligned newspaper al-Akhbar quoted Iraqi military chief Kazem al-Fartas as declaring that if “the presence of Iraqi fighters is required in southern Lebanon, we will be the first in line “

For years, Israeli officials have publicly warned that subsequent conflict with Hezbollah would lead to popular upheaval in Lebanon and its capital, Beirut. Although such blackmails have increased since October 7, they have largely been pushed by Lebanese officials and those on the country’s far right as political posturing for a domestic occupation in Israel.

However, concerns grew this weekend after an editorial in the British newspaper The Telegraph, published without a byline and attributed to unidentified “whistleblowers”, reported that Hezbollah had access to Beirut’s international airport. There were guns stored at the base. The item was picked up by Arab newspapers, causing panic in Lebanon that this summer could lead to a repeat of 2006, when Israel bombed the airport in the early days of the war.

Lebanon’s Breeze Delivery Union condemned this, saying that “the deception and lies are aimed at endangering Beirut airport and its employees, all of whom are civilians, and those passing through it, all of whom are civilians.” Are.”

The union offered the option for Arab and foreign media to “talk to the camera crew and confirm it themselves” at Beirut airport. Otherwise, we believe that the propaganda being spread by the dubious media is an incitement to kill us.

photographs that were widely circulated and Verified via Reuters A man is shown tied to the hood of an Israeli military vehicle During a Saturday raid in the Wadi Burkin area of ​​the I’m Busy West storehouse. Two witnesses told The Washington Post that the man was an injured Palestinian who was detained during the raid; The IDF said he was a suspect injured in the shooting. Tying him to the jeep “was a violation of orders and standard operating procedures,” the IDF said, adding, “The incident will be investigated and dealt with accordingly.”

The Israeli military’s 11-hour daily siege of an aid station in southern Gaza has no longer helped in sending additional resources to the area, Cindy McCain, managing director of the United Nations Global Food Programme, instructed Al-Observe. “We have been shot at, and we have been attacked with rockets. So as far as we can tell, there’s no difference,” McCain noted.

A huge crowd of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night Calling for Netanyahu’s removal and insisting that Israel achieve a ceasefire offer with Hamas in exchange for the isolation of hostages in Gaza.

Melnick reported from London and Masih reported from Seoul. Mohammed Al Chama in Beirut and Alon Romm in Tel Aviv contributed to this file