Tehran’s invasion of the city of Hodeida, Israel, prompts a joint Israeli-Jemalawian air strike
Netanyahu arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Saturday and the Houthis launched a missile attack. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed four people and wounded 40 others.
In response to a recent attack, the Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets in Yemen. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida.
The military said late Monday when it started its operations that it is looking at Hezbollah targets that pose a threat to the north. The incursion follows Friday’s airstrike that killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The wreck from Friday’s strike was still smoldering. Smoke rose over the site as people went to check on what was left of their homes, or to pay respects, or simply to see the destruction.
Two Israeli Air Strikes Killed in the Battle of Sidon, Lebanon, as President Biden and former Lebanese Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare to Leave the Middle East
President Biden plans to speak with Benjamin Netanyahu soon and he believes that an all out war in the Middle East must be avoided. “It has to be,” Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One for Washington.
In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by the AP, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The health ministry reported that at least 14 people were killed over the course of two days.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47.
Ali Karaki, another senior commander, was killed in the strike that killed Nasrallah. One of Nasrallah’s security detail was killed along with 20 other Hezbollah militant, according to Israel.
Three Israeli towns are not open to the public as a result of the Israeli military closing off the border with Lebanon. Israeli authorities say about 63,000 Israelis remain displaced from the border area with Lebanon due to Hezbollah rocket fire, and the U.N. says about one million Lebanese have been displaced from their homes fleeing Israeli airstrikes.
During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Kaouk was Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon and had also served as a veteran member of Hezbollah. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.
Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw.
Israeli Airstrike Kills Hezbollah: A Threat to the Security of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in the Middle East
A large number of people have been forced from their homes. The government estimates there are three to four times more people in shelters than outside, with many staying with friends or relatives.
Kirby refused to answer questions about whether the Biden administration agreed with how Israel was targeting Hezbollah leaders. The United States continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to accept a 21-day cease-fire floated by other countries during the UN General Assembly last week.
“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. They’ll try to recover. We are watching to see if they can fill the leadership vacuum. It is going to be a challenge. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”
Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it.
Also early Monday, another strike killed a commander with the militant group Hamas, which has a presence in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. Hamas said Fatah Sharif and his family were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre.
A Palestinian leftist faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the airstrike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement that its military and security commanders were killed in the attack.
JERUSALEM — The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict leveled an apartment building early Monday. It came after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people, as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
After a year of ground operations inside Gaza, the United States thinks Israel doesn’t have enough manpower to mount a major ground offensive in Lebanon.
A possible ground incursion is on the table according to an official in the region. The official in the Middle East and a US official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation.
Israel’s Airstrikes in Lebanon – A Successive Bolt on the Hezbollah Front? Israeli Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
Tamir Hayman, who served as the head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate until 2021, said in an interview on Israeli Army Radio on Monday that Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon had successfully knocked Hezbollah off balance.
Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary talked to Israel’s defense minister about the serious consequences for Iran if it launches a strike against Israel. The U.S. is concerned about Iran-backed groups threatening U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria as the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed groups intensifies. Defense secretary Austin said the U.S. supports Israel dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure along the Lebanon Israel border so Hezbollah cannot threaten Israeli border towns. But he called on Israel to ultimately pivot to diplomacy.
The U.S. is concerned about retaliation to Israel’s moves by Iran and Iranian-supported militias in the region. Such a retaliation could threaten U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
Netanyahu landed in Israel shortly before air raid sirens wailed at the airport and throughout central Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile midair.
Israeli security analysts said Israel’s bombing campaign in Yemen was a message to Iran, showing Israel’s long-range flight capability as a tacit warning to Iran that it, too, was within Israel’s reach.
The Lebanese army had moved back from some checkpoints at the southern border with Israel amid intense artillery shelling by Israeli forces. The official said that it was a move from forward positions to be prepared for an Israeli incursion.
The Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Kassem, said on Monday that the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement. That was despite a series of devastating Israeli attacks on Hezbollah leaders and members in recent weeks.