The Israeli military said on Saturday that since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7 it had struck more than 50 targets in Syria linked to the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari
The Israeli military said on Saturday that since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7 it had struck more than 50 targets in Syria linked to the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.
The remarks, in a briefing by chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari that mainly discussed efforts to beat back Hezbollah attacks launched in solidarity with Hamas, were a departure from Israel's usual reticence about Syria operations.
"Everywhere Hezbollah is, we shall be. We will take action everywhere required in the Middle East," Hagari said.
Israeli forces have attacked 34,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including 120 border surveillance outposts, 40 caches of missiles and other weaponry and more than 40 command centres, Hagari said. He put the number of enemy dead at more than 200.
Hagari said Israel had deployed three army divisions along its side of the Lebanese border in anticipation of Hezbollah getting involved after Palestinian Hamas launched a shock cross-border attack on Oct. 7, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip.
With tens of thousands of its northern residents having evacuated, Israel has threatened to escalate the Lebanon fighting unless Hezbollah backs off from the border - and has sought Western help in finding a diplomatic solution in Beirut.
Writing by Dan Williams
A Qatari negotiating team arrived in Tehran on Friday in coordination with United States to try to help secure a deal to end the war with Iran and resolve outstanding issues, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Iran's foreign minister met Pakistan's interior minister on Friday to discuss proposals to end the U.S.-Israeli war, Iranian media reported, with Tehran and Washington still at odds over Tehran's uranium stockpile and controls on the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against nine individuals, including Iran's designated ambassador to Lebanon, for obstructing the peace process in the Middle Eastern country and impeding the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
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