President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday cautioned the Lebanese government that if it doesn’t stop Hezbollah’s aggression against Israel, the terror group will drag both countries into war.
Hezbollah has set up a production and conversion site for precision missiles near the town of Al-Nabi Sheeth in Lebanon’s Bekaa, Israel’s military announced on Tuesday, saying the facility was established in recent years as a site for the production of weapons led by Iran and Hezbollah.
An Israeli drone was downed in Lebanon Sunday night simultaneous to a bevy of rockets fired at Israel from Syria.
Sources told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a warning letter to Lebanese President Michel Aoun, urging him to dismantle a factory set up by Hezbollah in the Bekaa region of Lebanon to develop and modernize the missiles before Israel attacks it.
The United States blocked a statement about the recent tensions between Israel and Hezbollah by the United Nations Security Council, the AFP reported on Thursday.
Unidentified aircraft launched strikes on a base belonging to an Iran-backed militia on the Syrian side of its border with Iraq, killing several people early Monday, an observer and Arabic media reported.
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday launched a large-scale exercise simulating war against Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian forces in the north of the country.
The Israeli military remained on high alert along the northern border Wednesday, bracing for further Hezbollah attacks, according to a television report.
The Israeli military has uncovered further evidence of Iranian entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon.
Israel was prepared for massive retaliation against Hezbollah’s precision missile system in Lebanon, and only opted against carrying out that plan because no Israeli soldiers were hurt in a Sunday cross-border attack by the terror group, according to a report Monday evening.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader said on Monday that while a flare-up with Israel at the border was over, the episode had launched a ‘new phase’ in which the Iran-backed group no longer has red lines.
Israel has released more information about the Lebanese weapons facility it hit Sunday morning with two drones.
The United States voiced concern Sunday after Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire along the Lebanese border, slamming the ‘destabilizing role’ of Iranian proxies in the Middle East.
A senior Iranian security official praised Hezbollah’s firing of anti-tank missiles from Lebanon at Israeli territory on Sunday, as the deputy leader of the Iran-backed terror group said the attack changed the rules of the game.
From the minute Hezbollah fired their anti-tank missiles at Israel, the entire Middle East was glued to what might happen next. This is because what is happening in northern Israel pits Iran’s ally against Israel, a key ally of the US, and that has regional implications because Iran’s allies and proxies – from Syria to Iraq and Yemen – are all impacted by how Hezbollah performs and how Israel responds.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said ‘general calm’ had been restored on the volatile border after a rare burst of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah sparked fears of an escalation and prompted concern from world powers.
The Hezbollah terror group fired several anti-tank guided missiles at an army base and a military jeep just inside northern Israel’s border with Lebanon on Sunday afternoon, causing no injuries, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The Treasury Department on Thursday targeted a Lebanese bank the Trump administration calls the ‘bank of choice’ of Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, as part of a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.
The army’s Northern Command said Thursday it had canceled all leave for combat brigades on Israel’s northern border, just hours after the military’s commander in the north warned Israel would offer a ‘harsh’ response to any Hezbollah attack.
Israel and the United States are pushing for the United Nations to increase the scope of action for peacekeepers in Lebanon, saying they are being rendered practically useless by the Hezbollah terror group, as the world body meets to extend the mandate of the mission.