Israeli forces claim they carried out rocket attacks on Hezbollah military targets near the border with Lebanon in the last 24 hours after President Joe Biden expressed concern 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 missiles in southern Lebanon in anticipation of an attack.
A third attack was a drone strike targeting a terrorist cell in Israel’s Malkia area towards the border.
The IDF said the rocket attacks were in response to shootings in Israel last day.
Israeli forces say they have carried out rocket attacks on Hezbollah military targets on the border with Lebanon in the last 24 hours
צה״ל תקף בשעות האחרונות מטרות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרח ב הגבול עם לבנון. בין המטרות נתקפה עמדת תצפית לכיוון הים ממנה שוגר ירי נ״ט לעבר ראש ה נקרה אתמול.
התקיפות בוצעו בתגובה לאירועי הירי לעבר ישראל ביממה האחרונה>> pic.twitter.com/pqn2srEgN0— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 19, 2023
The Israel-Lebanon border is somewhat contentious given the war that continues following the Hamas attack that killed over 1,400 Israelis and the IDF’s response.
The Times of Israel reported that there were reports of Hezbollah attacks and rocket attacks from northern Lebanon into northern Israel.
This came after US President Joe Biden said he was concerned about interference from Iran-backed Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
The US is tightening its travel warning and allowing non-emergency personnel to leave Lebanon after the embassy in Beirut was attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters who set a fire in the complex.
US military groups used smoke and gas to disperse protesters who had gathered outside the embassy after an attack on a hospital in Gaza. The Foreign Ministry issued the travel warning hours after the protests began.
“The Department approved the voluntary, temporary departure of family members of U.S. government personnel and some non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy Beirut due to the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon,” the announcement said.
White House officials contacted Hezbollah officials, Axios reported, and asked them to resign.
Hezbollah has declared that it will stand with Hamas.
The Pentagon has sent 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. forces would be deployed if Hezbollah fired rockets into 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 Gaza hospital that Israel blamed on a Palestinian rocket misfiring and which the Pentagon confirmed. Hamas blames Israel.
According to The Times of London, US President Netanyahu said he “fully supports” Israel’s plans to invade Gaza to “eradicate Hamas.”
Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and IDF chief of staff who joined his rival Netanyahu’s war cabinet, warned Biden that the invasion could take “years,” Axios reported.
Biden spoke to reporters on Air Force One on the way back from Israel but did not confirm U.S. 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 stationed on the Gaza border on Wednesday
In the picture, Israeli troops are stationed along the border with Gaza on Wednesday
An Israeli soldier is seen patrolling the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday
Biden is seen speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way out of Israel on Wednesday. Behind him are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Council Speaker John Kirby
Sources told the Times that Biden urged Israel to show restraint as it moves into the Gaza Strip and urged Israel to 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 agreement and publicly thanked Sisi as he spoke to reporters on the plane.
Sisi “deserves great credit” for providing humanitarian aid, Biden said.
“He was completely cooperative,” Biden said, adding that he “was committed — as was Bibi.”
Twenty trucks full of aid supplies are allowed to drive from Egypt to Gaza. Deliveries are likely to begin on Friday, The Times reported, as the road has been bombed and needs repairs before the trucks can pass.
Biden said the United Nations will be responsible for distributing aid in Gaza and that there may be a second shipment if the first goes well.
“If Hamas confiscates them or doesn’t let them through, then it will be over,” Biden said.
His government has been grappling for days with the question of how to provide humanitarian corridors for Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to escape despite an Israeli evacuation order.
“We will get the people out,” he said after discussing the issue with Netanyahu on his trip and seeking humanitarian aid.
“I have been very clear about the need to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Biden and Netanyahu are seen after their meeting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday
The two men hug as Biden arrives in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning
There was no word on what would happen after Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and Biden made no mention to reporters of discussions about the enclave’s future.
Biden privately asked Israeli officials what they planned to do with Gaza after the invasion, Axios reported. The Israelis replied that they had not yet made a decision and were still working on the first advance.
Biden publicly urged Israelis not to be “consumed” by anger and to think with “clarity of purpose.”
He stressed that Israel must not make the same mistakes as the United States after the September 11 attacks – an apparent reference to the invasion of Iraq.
According to Axios, Israeli officials are worried about keeping the international community on their side and have been vague publicly about what will happen to Gaza.
Eli Cohen, the foreign minister, suggested to Army Radio that Israel plans to reduce the geographical size of the Gaza Strip, The Times reported.
“At the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, but the territory of Gaza will also shrink,” he said.
Biden’s team is happy that Netanyahu added his political opponents Benny Gantz and former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot to the war cabinet, Axios reported.
According to Axios sources, Gantz told Biden that efforts to dismantle Hamas “could take years.”
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, told Biden that “it will be a long and difficult war and Israel will need U.S. support for a long period of time,” an adviser to Gallant said.