Washington, DC – The United States has said it does not want to see further escalation between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese armed group blamed Israel for a series of deadly, coordinated handheld pager blasts.
But the administration of US President Joe Biden, which remains Israel’s top military and diplomatic backer, on Tuesday also sought to downplay its ability to tamper tensions between the pair.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington was not involved in the apparent attack and was not given prior notification that it would occur.
“I will say that our overall policy remains consistent, which is, we do want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah,” Miller said. “We are always concerned about any type of event that may cause further escalation.”
But when pushed on whether the Biden administration’s influence – the US provides Israel with $3.8bn in military aid annually as well as staunch diplomatic support – could be used to prevent a wider war, Miller said that was “not just a question for the United States”.
“Of course, it’s a first … order question to Israel. It’s a question to Hezbollah, but is a question to all of the other countries in the region about what type of region they want to live in,” he said.
“So the United States is going to continue to push for a diplomatic resolution.”
Miller’s remarks come as rights advocates have urged the Biden administration to apply pressure on Israel to end its war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since early October and decimated the coastal Palestinian enclave.
Analysts have repeatedly accused Washington of acting as both an “arsonist and firefighter” by continually refusing to leverage US military aid to its “ironclad” ally despite the risks that a prolonged Gaza war could lead to a wider regional escalation.
Hezbollah, which has been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began, blamed Israel for Tuesday’s pager blasts and pledged that it would get its “fair punishment”.
The Israeli army has yet to comment on the explosions.
The Lebanese health minister said at least nine people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, when the pagers exploded across Lebanon. About 2,750 people also were injured, including 200 in critical condition.
Asked about the apparently indiscriminate nature of the explosions, Miller at the US State Department declined to comment directly on what happened.
However, he said that, broadly speaking, the US position is that “no country, no organisation should be targeting civilians”.
‘Mud in their face’
The explosions took place as the Biden administration continues to say it is pushing to broker a Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian faction that governs the territory.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was travelling to the Middle East for the latest meeting with mediators.
“President Biden doesn’t have a whole lot of time, the US election is less than 60 days away,” Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington, DC.
“So if [the Lebanon explosions] are something that Israel is in fact responsible for, this is certainly discouraging to the United States.”
The deadly blasts also came less than a day after White House adviser Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for de-escalation along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Following the meeting, Netanyahu’s office released a defiant statement saying Israelis would not be able to return to evacuated areas along the Lebanon border “without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north”.
Ramy Khoury, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, called the Israeli response to the US appeal “par for the course”.
“The Israelis routinely not only neglect what the Americans tell them, but throw mud in their face,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.
“The Americans have very limited capabilities in terms of their diplomatic action. They’ve focused more on military support for Israel and sanctions against Israel’s foes.”
Khoury added that US “diplomatic efforts are not taken very seriously by most people in the region” due to the country’s unconditional support for Israel.
“The US should be a huge diplomatic actor,” he said. “But it is clearly on the side of Israel and everything it does has to fit into the priorities of Israel.”
Pagers across Lebanon used by Hezbollah exploded on Tuesday, killing eight and injuring more than 2,700 people according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Videos of the explosions flooded social media. Reuters confirmed the attack through an anonymous source connected to Hezbollah. The anonymous source told Reuters the attack was the “biggest security breach” of Hezbollah’s information system they’d ever seen. A journalist on the scene also witnessed ambulances rushing the wounded to hospitals and several people said the pagers had continued to explode minutes after the initial attack.
The attack seems centered on Hezbollah and early reports indicate that the attack has hit fighters, medics, and even a diplomat. The Iranian news agency Mehr reported that Mojtaba Amani, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, was injured.
Hezbollah told the Wall Street Journal that many of the explosions were concentrated in southern Lebanon in and around Beirut.
“Clearly the number will be in the hundreds of casualties,” Firas Abiad, Lebanon’s Health Minister, told the Wall Street Journal. “A lot of patients are in the emergency sections of hospitals in most parts of the country, and the health apparatus is working on triaging these cases.”
After talking to the Journal, Abiad confirmed eight people had died and 2,750 were wounded.
Video and images of the explosions flooded social media in the hour after the attack. In one video, a man is shopping for food at a grocery store when something in his pocket explodes and he lands on the ground, calling out in pain. In another, a man is checking out at a store and he sets his pager down on the counter. It explodes, injuring him and sending the clerk running. It’s unclear how much collateral damage there’s been from the attacks.
Footage of the moment when Israel remotely hacked into Hezbollah’s unique communication devices and blew them up throughout Lebanon today. pic.twitter.com/fL74b7eyQO
According to the Wall Street Journal, the exploding pagers were part of a recent shipment meant for Hezbollah fighters. Hundreds of them had the devices and a Hezbollah official speculated that they’d been infected by malware. Some people felt the pagers get hot before the explosion and got rid of them before the attack. Criminals and military organizations sometimes use pagers because they’re perceived as more secure than more traditional methods of communication like a smartphone.
The people behind the attack aren’t known, but Lebanon shares a border with Israel, and Hezbollah has been launching rockets into the country since October 7. Sneaking explosives into the pocket of an enemy is the kind of thing Israel does. In July, Israel assassinated a Hamas leader in Tehran, Iran with a remotely detonated package. A Mossad agent had, somehow, managed to plant the explosive device in his bedroom.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lebanon nor has it given a comment to any media outlet.
Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike against the Hezbollah militant group, threatening to trigger a broader region-wide war that could torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza.The army said Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. The Iranian-backed group had been promising to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of a top commander late last month.Video above: Gazan father went to register his twins’ births. They were killed in an Israeli airstrike, hospital officials sayAir raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport began diverting incoming flights and delaying takeoffs.Soon afterward, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israel with a “large number of drones” as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, a top commander with the group, in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs last month.Hezbollah said the attack was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “targeting a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms.”The attack came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its 11th month. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a cease-fire.In the U.S., a spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean Savett, said President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts,” Savett said. “We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability.”In recent weeks, diplomats from the U.S. and European countries have made a flurry of visits to Israel and Lebanon in an attempt to tamp down the escalation that they fear could spiral into a regional war, potentially pulling in the U.S. and Iran.Last week, Israel’s defense minister said he was moving more troops toward the Lebanese border in anticipation of possible fighting with the Iranian-backed group.Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said early Sunday: ”In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the (Israeli military) is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.”“We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians,” he added, without providing details. ”We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety,” he added.Lebanese media reported strikes in the country’s south without immediately providing more details. Social media footage showed what appeared to be strikes in southern Lebanon.Israeli media cited the Israel Airports Authority for news of the flight cancellations. Flight-tracking data showed at least two El Al flights swinging far south and diverting after the announcement.Hagari said “dozens” of Israeli warplanes were striking targets in southern Lebanon. He said air defenses, warships and warplanes were defending Israel’s skies and were involved in the operation.Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the war with Hamas erupted on Oct. 7 with a Hamas cross-border attack. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and raising fears that the fighting could escalate into all-out war. But until Sunday, both sides have been careful to avoid a broader conflagration.Hezbollah is considered much more powerful than its ally, Hamas, with an estimated arsenal of arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles. In recent months, the group has also stepped up its use of drones, against which Israel is less well-equipped to defend.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, were managing the latest operation from military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Gallant declared a “special situation on the home front,” and Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet was set to meet later Sunday morning.Associated Press journalist Aamer Madhani in Buellton, California, contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM, Jerusalem District —
Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike against the Hezbollah militant group, threatening to trigger a broader region-wide war that could torpedo efforts to forge a cease-fire in Gaza.
The army said Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. The Iranian-backed group had been promising to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of a top commander late last month.
Video above: Gazan father went to register his twins’ births. They were killed in an Israeli airstrike, hospital officials say
Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport began diverting incoming flights and delaying takeoffs.
Soon afterward, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israel with a “large number of drones” as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, a top commander with the group, in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs last month.
Hezbollah said the attack was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “targeting a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms.”
The attack came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its 11th month. Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a cease-fire.
In the U.S., a spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean Savett, said President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.
“At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts,” Savett said. “We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability.”
In recent weeks, diplomats from the U.S. and European countries have made a flurry of visits to Israel and Lebanon in an attempt to tamp down the escalation that they fear could spiral into a regional war, potentially pulling in the U.S. and Iran.
Last week, Israel’s defense minister said he was moving more troops toward the Lebanese border in anticipation of possible fighting with the Iranian-backed group.
Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said early Sunday: ”In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the (Israeli military) is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.”
“We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians,” he added, without providing details. ”We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety,” he added.
Lebanese media reported strikes in the country’s south without immediately providing more details. Social media footage showed what appeared to be strikes in southern Lebanon.
Israeli media cited the Israel Airports Authority for news of the flight cancellations. Flight-tracking data showed at least two El Al flights swinging far south and diverting after the announcement.
Hagari said “dozens” of Israeli warplanes were striking targets in southern Lebanon. He said air defenses, warships and warplanes were defending Israel’s skies and were involved in the operation.
Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the war with Hamas erupted on Oct. 7 with a Hamas cross-border attack. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and raising fears that the fighting could escalate into all-out war. But until Sunday, both sides have been careful to avoid a broader conflagration.
Hezbollah is considered much more powerful than its ally, Hamas, with an estimated arsenal of arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles. In recent months, the group has also stepped up its use of drones, against which Israel is less well-equipped to defend.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, were managing the latest operation from military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Gallant declared a “special situation on the home front,” and Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet was set to meet later Sunday morning.
Associated Press journalist Aamer Madhani in Buellton, California, contributed to this report.
Along with a surge of combat aircraft and warships, President Biden dispatched three of his top Mideast advisers, including CIA Director Bill Burns, to the region this week to try to delay Iranian and Hezbollah military retaliation against Israel, and to use that borrowed time to craft an offramp from the collision course that ultimately risks a regional war that could draw in U.S. forces.
U.S. assessments are that Iran will not seek to disrupt ongoing cease-fire negotiations in Doha aimed at ending the Hamas-Israel war. Those technical talks could stretch into the weekend, but it is unclear how long Iran and its proxies may hold off. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that an Iranian attack could come with “little or no warning, and certainly could come in the coming days.”
Both Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy force Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran two weeks ago and the July killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, but have not specified when or how. Israel said it killed Shukr in an airstrike. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Israel was responsible for Haniyeh’s killing, though Israel has not publicly acknowledged it.
But multiple sources in the region told CBS News that Iran’s government continues to internally debate whether to use military force as it did on April 13, when it launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel, or whether to conduct a covert intelligence operation. Sources also indicated to CBS that Hezbollah’s Lebanon-based leader, Hassan Nasrallah, does not want to act without Iran’s consent, but also does not seek a wider-scale conflict with Israel. The U.S. assesses that Hezbollah could launch an attack with little to no warning.
The U.S. diplomacy, which includes indirect outreach to Tehran via other governments and to Hezbollah via politicians in Beirut, has been aimed at limiting the regional escalation risk. Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations told CBS News earlier this month that Hezbollah might not limit itself to military targets within Israel this time, suggesting the group could aim “broader and deeper” within Israeli territory at civilian targets. As of 2021, the CIA believed Hezbollah had an arsenal of up to 150,000 missiles and rockets, including some with long ranges that collectively have the potential to overwhelm Israel’s anti-missile defense system and could hit deep inside Israeli territory.
A column of Israeli military armored vehicles leave following a military operation in the West Bank town of Tubas on Aug. 14, 2024.
Majdi Mohammed / AP
At a press conference in Beirut Wednesday, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein indicated that the centerpiece of the Biden strategy is to use this narrow window of time to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a hostage release and cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip, which could then help avert a war in Lebanon after 10 months of cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah.
In a furious effort to turn the Biden administration’s Gaza cease-fire framework into an actionable agreement, NSC Director Brett McGurk was in Cairo early this week and traveled on to Doha, Qatar, to help hammer out implementation details. With the U.S. acting as mediator, Burns led talks in Doha with Israel’s Mossad director David Barnea, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egypt’s intelligence director Abbas Kamel.
The U.S. is expected to present a final bridging proposal, which was described by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ultimately allowing for the release of all hostages, a vaccination campaign to stop the spread of polio, restoration of services including water and electricity to displaced Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and includes efforts to help halt fighting in Lebanon. Current numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry indicate a grim milestone today of 40,000 Palestinians killed in the bloody 10-month war.
If all of this fails, the U.S. also has a parallel plan similar to when Iran launched its April 13 attack on Israel, to defend Israel with the aid of allies.
During that spring attack, U.K. military jets were scrambled to help protect U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, who are stationed in the region as part of the anti-ISIS coalition presence. If a similar attack is launched by Iran this time around, the new U.K. government is expected to replicate its role. A U.K. official told CBS News, “Our core focus is diplomatic efforts and de-escalation. But as you’d expect, we also stand ready to defend Israel, and we remain in constant touch with the U.S. and allies on potential scenarios, including active support to backfill U.S. functions as we did in April.”
A French official also told CBS News, “We’ve been calling on all actors in the region to de-escalate. Alongside the US, we maintain strong diplomatic and military coordination in the region and are helping support in assessing and monitoring the situation.”
Parallel to the talks in Doha, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne was in Lebanon Thursday meeting government leaders, including those close to Hezbollah “to support the ongoing diplomatic efforts in favor of de-escalation in the region,” he stated on X.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne in Beirut on Aug. 15, 2024, amid regional tensions during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images
The timing of the Doha meeting, just four days before the start of the Democratic National Convention, also underscores the priority that the Biden-Harris administration is placing on ending the bloodshed and retrieving the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including five Americans still unaccounted for. The conflict has had a domestic political impact, and polling shows the humanitarian toll has particularly resonated among progressive, Black, Arab and Muslim American voters. The family of U.S. hostage Omer Neutra spoke at the Republican National Convention on July 17 to plead for more public pressure.
Margaret Brennan is the moderator of “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan.” She is also the Network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington, D.C.
A Hamas representative in Lebanon confirmed to CBS News that a delegation from the militant group will not attend Thursday’s attempt to restart cease-fire negotiations with Israel, saying Hamas has not received assurances that Israel would commit to negotiate on the basis of an earlier proposal dated July 2.
“We are not against the concept of negotiations and we were flexible in the previous rounds,” said Ahmad Abdul Hadi, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, in a statement to CBS News Tuesday. “But Netanyahu and his government rejected (the July 2nd proposal), put new conditions, they assassinated the head of our movement,” referring to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political wing, in the Iranian capital of Tehran late last month. Haniyeh had been Hamas’ lead negotiator in the cease-fire talks.
“Therefore we won’t participate” in the Aug. 15 talks, Abdul Hadi added, “and we will go back to square one.”
Hamas said it is willing to meet with mediators after Thursday’s talks in Qatar, if Israel gives what they call a “serious response,” according to a diplomat briefed on the talks.
“We are serious on reaching an agreement as it is our responsibility towards our people to stop the massacres and the famine war the occupation (sic) is committing against our people,” Abdul Hadi said.
On Sunday, Israel indicated it would attend upcoming negotiations, and on Monday, Hamas issued its first statement hinting it would not attend talks, citing many previous rounds of negotiations and pointing to the July 2 proposal as the basis for moving ahead. In Tuesday’s statement confirming it would not attend, Hamas also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not acting in good faith, and of wanting to both prolong its war in Gaza and expand it into the Middle East.
Iran and its proxies blame Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, as well as an airstrike last month on Beirut which killed Hezbollah senior military commander Fuad Shukr — a top leader of Hezbollah and advisor to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has taken credit for Shukr’s killing, but not that of Haniyeh.
Leaders and top officials of Western countries — including the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Vatican — have been trying to talk Iran down from retaliating against Israel.
Iran’s new President Mahmoud Pezeshkian replied that retribution is “a right” to stop more Israeli aggression.
If Iran and Hezbollah were to conduct attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speculated to CBS News that the Israeli military would launch counterattacks which could then drag the whole region into an all-out war, and pull in Mideast and Western countries.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday that the Biden administration is preparing for a potential attack on Israel by Iran and its proxies as soon as this week, while U.S. officials told CBS News that a limited attack from both Hezbollah and Iran could come with little to no warning.
Ramy Inocencio is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in London, covering Europe and the Middle East. He joined the Network in 2019 as CBS News’ Asia correspondent, based in Beijing and reporting across the Asia-Pacific, bringing two decades of experience working and traveling between Asia and the United States.
TEL AVIV, Israel — A rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teens, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, but Hezbollah rushed to deny any role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far.”
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, called it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. He said 20 others were wounded.
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12. “We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.”
Hezbollah chief spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams.” It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.
The strike at the soccer field, just before sunset, followed earlier cross-border violence on Saturday, when Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed, without specifying where. Israel’s military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot on the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.
Hezbollah said its fighters carried out nine different attacks using rockets and explosive drones against Israeli military posts, the last of which targeted the army command of the Haramoun Brigade in Maaleh Golani with Katyusha rockets. It said they were in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
The office of Netanyahu, who was on a visit to the United States, said he would cut short his trip by several hours, without specifying when he would return. It said he will convene the security Cabinet after arriving.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government called for a harsh response against Hezbollah. But an all-out war with a militant group with far superior firepower to Hamas would be trying for Israel’s military after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza.
Footage aired on Israeli Channel 12 showed a large blast in one of the valleys in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981. Some Druze have Israeli citizenship. Many still have sympathies for Syria and rejected Israeli annexation, but their ties with Israeli society have grown over the years.
Video showed paramedics rushing stretchers off the soccer field toward waiting ambulances.
Ha’il Mahmoud, a resident, told Channel 12 that children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said a siren was heard seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to take shelter.
Jihan Sfadi, the principal of an elementary school, told Channel 12 that five students were among the dead: “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, people are screaming outside. No one can digest what has happened.”
Israel’s military said its analysis showed that the rocket was launched from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.
The White House National Security Council in a statement said the U.S. “will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.”
Lebanon’s government, in a statement that didn’t mention Majdal Sham, urged an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel. In recent weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border has intensified, with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah striking deeper and farther away from the border.
Majdal Shams had not been among border communities ordered to evacuate as tensions rose, Israel’s military said, without saying why. The town doesn’t sit directly on the border with Lebanon.
Officials from countries including the United States and France have visited Lebanon to try to ease the tensions but failed to make progress. Hezbollah has refused to cease firing as long as Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues. Israel and Hezbollah fought an inconclusive war in 2006.
Saturday’s violence comes as Israel and Hamas are weighing a cease-fire proposal that would wind down the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free the roughly 110 hostages who remain captive there. Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 44 have been killed, at least 21 of them soldiers.
Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.
A rocket attack Saturday on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed at least 11 people and wounded several others, including children, Israel said, hours after an Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon killed three members of the militant Hezbollah group.
The strike, the deadliest attack on an Israeli target since the fighting between the two foes erupted in October, raised fears of a broader conflagration in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning home as quickly as possible after a trip to the United States, his office said.
Saturday was a day of “almost all-out war” between Israel and Hezbollah following the rocket attack that killed children in Majdal Shams in northern Israel a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News. Officials said the strike was a “nightmare scenario” feared by Biden officials – and mass casualties would force a heavier Israeli response than the usual tit-for-tat.
White House officials have been working the phones to de-escalate and contain the fallout.
“We condemn this horrific attack that reportedly killed a number of teenagers and children playing soccer on a Saturday evening in the village of Majdal Shams in northern Israel, ” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.
“Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, as the world saw today, and the United States will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.”
Hezbollah said it struck a military base in the Golan Heights in retaliation for Israeli attacks on a village in Lebanon.
Israeli emergency services and local residents gather near a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Golan area on July 27, 2024.
JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images
Hezbollah chief spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams.”
Chief spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari asserted to journalists that “Hezbollah is lying.” He said all 11 people killed were aged 10 to 20 and that more than 20 other people were wounded.
The Israeli military said in a statement Saturday that according to intelligence in its possession, “the rocket launch toward Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization is behind the rocket launch at a soccer field in Majdal Shams which caused multiple civilian casualties, including children, earlier this evening,” the statement said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service initially reported 11 people wounded, nine critically, and all between the ages of 10 and 20. Israeli Public Broadcaster Kan aired footage of some being rushed to ambulances on stretchers from a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams.
Israeli security forces and medics treat a casualty as local residents gather at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Golan area.
JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images
“These were kids at a soccer field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israeli Channel 12. “Today a red line was crossed,” he said, urging Israeli leaders to start targeting top Hezbollah commanders.
The Israeli military said one projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area, adding it was cooperating with the MDA to evacuate the wounded. Channel 12 aired footage of a large blast in one of the town’s valleys.
Hezbollah said in a statement that its militants firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in south Lebanon. The group said earlier that three of its members were killed on Saturday without specifying where. Israel’s military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot on the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.
People react at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Golan area.
JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed them in 1981.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded near daily fire since the war in Gaza started after Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities, displaced over 80% of the territory’s people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.
Over the past weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel intensified with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah striking deeper and further away from the border.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed before Saturday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 3.8% in the first six months of the year, lagging way behind the Nasdaq, up 18.1%, and the S&P 500, which jumped 14.5% — as investors plowed into artificial intelligence-related stocks.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
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Boeing ‘guilty plea’ U.S. prosecutors plan to seek a guilty plea from Boeing over a charge related to two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, attorneys for the victims’ family members said. The Justice Department is reviewing whether Boeing violated a 2021 settlement that shielded the company from federal charges. Boeing agreed then to pay a $2.5 billion penalty for a conspiracy charge tied to the crashes. The DOJ revisited the agreement after a door panel blew out of a new 737 Max 9 in January, sparking a new safety crisis.
Under fire Nike CEO John Donahoe faces growing discontent as the company’s stock plummeted 20% on Friday, its worst day since 1980, after forecasting a significant decline in sales. As Wall Street digested the dismal outlook from the world’s largest sportswear company, at least six investment banks downgraded Nike’s stock. Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Stifel took it a step further, specifically calling the company’s management into question.
Bitcoin windfall Mt. Gox, a bankrupt Japanese bitcoin exchange, is set to repay creditors nearly $9 billion worth of Bitcoin following a 2011 hack. The court-appointed trustee overseeing the exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings said distributions to the firm’s roughly 20,000 creditors would begin this month. The payout is likely to be a windfall for those who waited a decade, with Bitcoin’s value surging from around $600 in 2014 to over $60,000 today. One claimant, Gregory Greene, could potentially receive $2.5 million for his $25,000 investment.
Inflation cooling A key inflation measure, watched closely by the Federal Reserve, slowed to its lowest annual rate in over three years in May, with the core personal consumption expenditures price index rising 2.6% from a year ago. “This is just additional news that monetary policy is working, inflation is gradually cooling,” San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin during a “Squawk Box” interview. “That’s a relief for businesses and households who have been struggling with persistently high inflation. It’s good news for how policy is working.”
[PRO] Rally will broaden The tech sector has driven market performance in 2024, with the S&P 500 tech group up 28% and Nvidia soaring 149%, while small-caps have lagged. Oppenheimer’s chief market strategist John Stoltzfus believes the rally will broaden. CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han looks at the reasons behind his call.
It's a busy political environment for markets to navigate. Wall Street has shown remarkable resilience thanks to the AI-powered rally in the first half of the year, which has seen the Nasdaq soar 18% so far. Nvidia is up almost 150%. There could be more to come; Bank of America believes Nvidia and Apple could still deliver "superior returns."
John Donahoe was brought in from eBay to transform the athletic apparel giant's digital channels. The company ditched its retail partners, became too dependent on its aging sneaker ranges and lost ground to new contenders Hoka and On. It'll certainly make an interesting case study for MBA programs for all the wrong reasons. As Wall Street questioned Donahoe's position, he still had the approval of its founder.
Friday also saw the Fed's favored inflation measure come in line with expectations, raising the prospect of interest rate cuts later this year.
"I really think the Fed should tee up a cut at the July 31 meeting, confirm it at Jackson Hole in August and do it in September," Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." He added that one or maybe one-and-a-half rate cuts have already been priced in.
"I actually think there will be more because there might be a little bit more softness in the economy and better inflation numbers, both of those feeding better rates," he continued. Siegel also said it is "hard to say" where the bull market's trajectory currently stands.
In a four-day trading week — markets are closed for the July 4 Independence Day holiday — the big economic number to watch is the June jobless data on Friday. CNBC's Sarah Min has more on what to expect.
— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han, Yun Li, Jeff Cox, Leslie Josephs, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Hakyung Kim, Brian Evans, Spencer Kimball, Ryan Browne and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
Cecilia Vega (in studio): Lesley Stahl has spent a week on the ground in Israel, where its military is engaged on three fronts — with Hezbollah in the north, with Iran in the east and the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, that has created catastrophic civilian consequences.
Lesley Stahl: We’re at the Erez crossing into Gaza which is open at the moment, though the flow of aid trucks in has slowed to a trickle. This has been a week of high drama in Israel, first off we have the tension – increasing tension — with the United States over the imminent invasion of Rafah and President Biden’s punitive step in holding off the delivery of bombs that could be used in that invasion. There’s been a week of intense diplomacy with CIA Director William Burns here to try and breathe life into the ceasefire for hostages deal.
It’s been a month since Iran’s brutal attack with missiles and drones. But this has been a week of more hostilities. In the north, there’s an intensifying of the not-much-covered battle with Hezbollah. And in the south, Israel is surrounding Rafah.
Israeli tanks inched in. There were huge explosions and exchanges of fire with Hamas. More images of misery, as shortages of food and fuel become dire. Refugees from the north of Gaza who had taken shelter here were being instructed by the Israeli military, the IDF, to move — again.
Omer Tischler: What’s going right now is a very– specific operation being run by the IDF, a very accurate one, on the east part of Rafah.
Brigadier General Omer Tischler is second in command of the Israeli air force.
Lesley Stahl: If what you’re saying is true, how come we’re seeing what looks like indiscriminate bombing?
Omer Tischler: I understand and I feel sorry. But the bottom line is Hamas dragged us into that kind of war.
Brigadier General Omer Tischler is second in command of the Israeli air force.
60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl: President Biden has been a steadfast ally and supporter of Israel and that support of Israel is hurting him. And now the Biden administration has already stopped sending weapons, 3,000 bombs for Israeli fighter planes.
Omer Tischler: I won’t talk about the specific report. What I’ll talk about is our strong relationship with the United States. I know that we will keep on working together with our partners, with our friends, and with the United States.
Lesley Stahl: In terms of American opinion, things have shifted against Israel because of these images of all the civilians, horrible scenes of devastation. There’s I guess two wars. There’s a war on the ground. And then there’s a war of public opinion. And you’re losing that war.
Omer Tischler: I don’t know about that.
Lesley Stahl: I’m telling you.
Omer Tischler: Maybe you’re right. What we are doing, what we’re trying to do, and just to remind us where it all happened, where it’s– when this all started. It started with a brutal, brutal attack by Hamas killing 1200 people at the seven of October.
Since then, over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza according to the U.N. While Israel is engaged with Iran-backed Hamas along Israel’s southern border, another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, has ramped up its attacks from the north.
Lesley Stahl: We’re in Kiryat Shmona, a city just 15 minutes from the border with Lebanon. Right now Hezbollah is sending drones and rockets into this area. We can hear the booms going off – one after the next. So far, at least two Israeli soldiers have been killed today. And we can also hear the Israeli counterattack. Now, this fight is not as intense as the one in Gaza, but it’s serious enough that Israel evacuated more than 60,000 people – emptying out the entire northern part of the country.
The loss of the north feels to Israelis like a wound, an amputation, a humiliation. We drove up to the border, to the abandoned and partly destroyed small town of Metula. This Hezbollah video shows near daily missile attacks pummeling the town.
Liat Cohen-Raviv is one of a handful of residents still in Metula who spend their days underground in this bunker complex.
Liat Cohen-Raviv: The most safe spot in Metula these days.
She led us into their war room, where they monitor incoming fire from the hillsides of Lebanon, an area also deserted. 90,000 Lebanese were forced to flee.
A handful of people have remained behind in Metula in northern Israel.
60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl: How long does it take for a missile to come over here?
Man (mayor): 8 or 20 seconds.
Lesley Stahl: 8 to 20 seconds?
Man (mayor): Yes
Liat Cohen-Raviv: Another drone coming in. Sorry
Twenty minutes after we got there, reports of a drone overhead carrying explosives.
Liat Cohen-Raviv: Quickly please.
We left the war room and moved to another room.
Lesley Stahl: I keep hearing the noise overhead. I know we’re locked in here. What’s happening?
Liat Cohen-Raviv: So currently we have a suicide drone. You can hear the alerts coming in as we speak. And it’s above us and what’s happening now is that the army is trying to respond to it and to shoot it down.
Lesley Stahl: And those are alerts?
Liat Cohen-Raviv: These are alerts.
Lesley Stahl: To us.
Liat Cohen-Raviv: Yes.
Lesley Stahl: To stay inside.
Liat Cohen-Raviv: Stay inside.
Outside the army was coming to rescue two soldiers who were wounded – and would later die. After we’d been there an hour, a pause in the fighting –
Shachar Bar-On: He wants us to leave one after the other to have the cars just drive right out of here.
Daniel Pritchard: All of our team, come into, come into this.
(Out of shot): Go, go, come!
Lesley Stahl: Go, let’s go.
Lesley Stahl in Metulah
60 Minutes
We drove as fast as we could as the fighting picked up again.
Lesley Stahl: So would you say that you are fighting a multi-front war right now?
Omer Tischler: It is, yes.
General Tischler calls the fight with Hezbollah one part of a 360-degree war with Iran. He gave us a rare tour of Israeli air force headquarters, which they taped for us, with no sound and blurred for security reasons. He showed us where he sat the night of April 13, when Iran blitzed Israel from its own soil for the first time, to retaliate for the assassination in Damascus of a top Iranian general.
Iran launched a massive synchronized attack of some 170 suicide drones, over 30 cruise missiles that fly low and fast like jets, and over 120 ballistic missiles.
The skies across the Middle East lit up as pilots shot down the drones and cruise missiles.
Israel’s advanced “Arrow” system took down ballistic missiles in the outer atmosphere.
Only a handful of all that made it through.
Omer Tischler: ‘Til that night Iran attacks us using its proxies from Yemen, from Iraq, from Syria, from Lebanon. But on that night Iran attack Israel directly.
Lesley Stahl: Do you think that it’s possible that Iran chose to do this because it perceived Israel right now as being weak? You’re arguing with the Americans, all kinds of issues with Gaza.
Omer Tischler: Iran attacked us with all their capabilities and they failed. And Iran knows that we are capable of attacking at any given time.
One reason Iran failed was because a surprising coalition joined forces to help Israel, including several Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar.
Omer Tischler: I’ll say that what happened at that night –on the night was historic. But we didn’t do it on our own. We’ve done it with our partners.
Lesley Stahl: Are you talking about the Saudis and the Jordanians?
Omer Tischler: We’re flying with the U.S., with the Brits, with the French, and I’ll not talk– I don’t think it will be wise to talk about other countries.
Lesley Stahl: But, you know, that is the most interesting part of all this, it’s almost unfathomable to think that these Arab countries would come into the air to defend Israel.
Omer Tischler: What’s clear now is that Iran poses threat to the region. And we should act together against Iran.
Lesley Stahl: But, you know something? The Arab countries are refusing to admit they participated. What do you make of that?
Omer Tischler: We’re not talking. We’re acting. So less words and more actions.
Lesley Stahl: Were you at all surprised that all those Arab countries came into this coalition with Israel, given what’s going on in Gaza?
Tamir Hayman: Given the context of Gaza?
Lesley Stahl: Yeah.
Tamir Hayman: Unbelievable.
Tamir Hayman, head of the Institute for National Security Studies
60 Minutes
Tamir Hayman is former head of Israeli army intelligence, now head of the Institute for National Security Studies.
Lesley Stahl: Well, what did these other countries really do, like Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and Jordan?
Tamir Hayman: Well, the main issue is early detection. If you have a network of radars spread all over the Middle East, connected into one central hub, which is maybe American one, you give– you– you spread a network of detection that should give you enough time to be prepared.
Days after the attack, a group of Orthodox men found a ballistic missile in the desert that was successfully shot down by the army. Another one was found floating in the Dead Sea. Both were brought to this army base for forensic analysis.
No one was killed that night; one girl was injured from falling debris.
Lesley Stahl: Oh, so this is the hole. This is where–
But four ballistic missiles did hit the Nevatim air force base. Base Commander Yotam Sigler showed us one point of impact. His base was one of Iran’s main targets because it’s home to Israel’s fleet of stealth F-35s.
Lesley Stahl: Were any of your– F-35s damaged in any way?
Yotam Sigler: No.
Lesley Stahl: But what they did prove– to you, to themselves and to the world, is that they could send a ballistic missile from Iran and hit Israel.
Yotam Sigler: Yeah. It is a big deal.
Lesley Stahl: So if those four had hit, and they had nuclear weapons on them, this must terrify Israel?
Yotam Sigler: Yeah, it terrifies not only Israel but the Middle Ea– the Middle East.
Yotam Sigler
60 Minutes
The U.S. and Israel consider the battle of April 13 a win – but so does Iran.
Lesley Stahl: President Biden issued a public warning to Iran: “Don’t attack, don’t do this” several times and they did, they defied him.
Tamir Hayman: From their eyes it’s a strategic victory. They have stood against a direct threat by the most powerful nation in the world and defied it.
Tamir Hayman is concerned about Israel’s future with the U.S.
Tamir Hayman: We are worried about the internal trends inside Israel and the internal long-term trends inside the United States. What happened right now in the universities in the United States is just acceleration of a phenomena that was well observed I think a year ago. That is that we have a challenge on maintaining the common values which are the basics of those– of the special connection relationship with the United States. We are drifting apart and it’s a strategic threat that we need to address.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tested the “special relationship” this week with a public message for President Biden: that the incursion into Rafah is on with or without the U.S. weapons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
The week here ended with the points of contention even more acute. The U.N. says it could run out of food to distribute to Gaza as soon as today. Here in Tel Aviv, the hostage families continue their vigil as some of their protests have turned into violent clashes with the police.
And CIA Director William Burns left the region, with no progress on the cease-fire for hostages negotiations.
Produced by Shachar Bar-On and Jinsol Jung. Broadcast associate, Aria Een. Edited by Peter M. Berman.
(CNN) — The wave of drones and missiles that flew towards Israel overnight on Sunday brought with it a new phase of tension, uncertainty and confrontation in the Middle East.
Iran launched the unprecedented attack in response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, earlier this month.
It marked a new chapter in a discord between the two states that percolated for years and has spiralled since Israel declared war on Hamas last October.
The next steps remain unclear, but Israel is facing pleas from its allies to step back from the brink of open warfare and choose a path of de-escalation.
Here’s what you need to know.
How did Iran attack Israel?
More than 300 projectiles – including around 170 drones and over 120 ballistic missiles – were fired toward Israel in the immense aerial attack overnight. Approximately 350 rockets were fired from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
However, “99%” of the projectiles were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense systems and its allies, according to the Israeli military, with only a small number reaching Israeli territory.
Tehran’s attack targeted the Nevatim airbase, an Iranian army official said on Sunday, alleging that this is where Israel’s early April strike on the Iranian consulate was launched from.
Iranian ballistic missiles that reached Israel fell on the airbase in the south of the country and caused only light structural damage, Hagari said. The base is functioning and continuing its operations following the attack, with planes continuing to use the base, Hagari added.
A senior US military official told reporters Sunday that the US assessed “there’s no significant damage within Israel itself.”
US ships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea destroyed between four and six Iranian ballistic missiles during the attack and aircraft in the region shot down more than 70 Iranian one-way UAVs headed toward Israel. The US Army Patriot missile battery shot down one ballistic missile in the vicinity of Erbil, Iraq, the official said.
Why did the attack take place?
Israel and Iran are long-standing rivals and have been engaged in a shadow war for years.
Israel’s war on Hamas, waged since the militant group attacked Israel on October 7, has heightened those tensions.
Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria have launched attacks aimed at US military positions in those countries and Iran’s leadership has warned that attacks by its allies won’t stop until Israel’s war in Gaza ends.
But fears of a spiralling regional war spiked further in early April, when Iran accused Israel of bombing its diplomatic complex in Syria.
That airstrike destroyed the consulate building in the capital Damascus, killing at least seven officials including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and senior commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, Iran’s foreign ministry said at the time.
Zahedi, a former commander of the IRGC’s ground forces, air force, and the deputy commander of its operations, was the most high-profile Iranian target killed since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of IRGC Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.
Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would be punished for the attack, while President Ebrahim Raisi said it would “not go unanswered,” state news agency IRNA reported. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said the strike would be met with “punishment and revenge.”
The region has been on edge ever since, with the US and Israel warning of intelligence that an Iranian attack was imminent.
How have Israel and its allies responded to the Iranian strike?
Israel reacted angrily to the unprecedented strikes, while praising its military’s response.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attack had been “thwarted this attack in a way that is unparalleled” but added “we must be prepared for every scenario.” In his first comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we have intercepted, we have contained. Together we shall win.”
But Israel’s allies in the West urged the country to work to de-escalate the crisis, rather than respond in a way which could tip the situation into open warfare.
US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and made clear that the US would not participate in any offensive operations against Iran, a senior White House administration official told CNN.
Biden told Netanyahu he should consider the events of Saturday night a “win” as Iran’s attacks had been largely unsuccessful, and instead demonstrated Israel’s “remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks.”
After a virtual meeting Sunday, leaders of the G7 condemned in a joint statement the Iranian attack, which it said “risks provoking an uncontrollable regional escalation.”
“We demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives,” they said.
What happens next?
The decisions made by Israel’s War Cabinet will dictate the immediate next steps.
One of the members, Benny Gantz said Israel will “exact a price from Iran in a way and time that suits us.”
Israeli government hardliners have called for firm action. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged a response that “resonates throughout the Middle East,” and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Israel should “go crazy.”
An hours-long war cabinet meeting on Sunday ended without a decision on how Israel will respond, according to an Israeli official.
The war cabinet is determined to respond but has yet to decide on the timing and scope, the official said. One of the key dilemmas facing the cabinet is determining how quickly Israel should respond. The official said the Israeli military has been tasked with coming up with additional options for a response.
Israel told the United States that it’s not “looking for a significant escalation with Iran,” a senior Biden administration told reporters Sunday.
“They’re looking to protect themselves and defend themselves,” the official said.
On Sunday, Iran said a “new equation” in its adversarial relationship with Israel had been opened, and warned of a “much bigger” assault on the country should Netanyahu decide on a tit-for-tat attack.
“We have decided to create a new equation, which is that if from now on the Zionist regime attacks our interests, assets, personalities, and citizens, anywhere, and at any point, we will retaliate against them,” the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami told Iranian state TV. The “Zionist regime” is a term Iran uses to refer to Israel.
A White House official says the U.S. is adjusting its posture in the Middle East as it monitors escalating tensions between Israel and Iran. CBS News national security contributor Sam Vinograd joins with analysis.
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An Israeli strike last week on Iran’s consulate in Syria killed several senior Iranian commanders. U.S. and Israeli officials are now preparing for Iran to respond. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has the details.
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A U.K. war monitor says Israeli airstrikes killed 44 people near the Syrian city of Aleppo early Friday. Human rights groups have called it the deadliest attack in Syria in years. CBS News national security contributor Sam Vinograd joins with analysis.
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Iran will continue to leverage multiple strategic lines of effort in the Americas, aided by a broad network of criminal and terrorist allies and proxies, including sanctions evasion, acquiring funds through multiple illicit economic activities, successful and unsuccessful terrorist attacks, and the deployment of massive mis- and disinformation campaign structures and a spectrum of threats that affect U.S. national security.
WASHINGTON, February 12, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Today, the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), a national security non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., released a new report entitled, “How Iran’s Threat and Illicit Networks Finance Chaos and Malign Influence to Destabilize U.S. Interests in the Americas and Globally“, co-authored by Douglas Farah and David M. Luna. The New ICAIE policy brief highlights how as Iran is expanding its global security footprint, it poses an existential threat to not only peace and security in the Middle East but also to strategic American national security interests in Latin America. “Iran, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), is undertaking subversive active measures through its embassies, terrorist proxies, and criminal networks in the Americas to destabilize democracies and exert political influence, penetrate markets, and increase sway with corrupt ruling elites,” said David Luna, ICAIE’s Executive Director.
Similar to its modus operandi in the Middle East of using proxies to advance its geo-security interests and have plausible deniability, Iran leverages proxy power forces in Latin America by “exploiting existing regional weaknesses—such as organized crime networks—to provide Iran with the ‘cover’ needed to pursue its strategic policy in the Americas.” The Iran-financed chaos and malign influence in the Americas also has a geopolitical ripple effect globally, that impacts U.S. national security in other corners of the world.
In a vulnerable region where Latin authoritarian regimes increasingly rely on repression, censorship, corruption, and alliances with transnational criminal forces, the deepening partnerships with China, Iran, and Russia accelerate democratic backsliding, economic stagnation, instability, and collapse of the rule of law. Iran’s threat and illicit networks today have advanced an array of malign influence and political interference activities in the Americas intended to harm the United States through multiple military, intelligence, security, diplomatic, and criminal operations.
Over the past two decades, Iran and its allies have worked aggressively to expand their activities and influence operations around Latin America. These activities have come under increasing scrutiny since Iran’s support for Islamic militants became a topic of recent international debate, following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
ICAIE’s report underscores the need to view Iran’s activities in the Western Hemisphere through a strategic prism of asymmetrical warfare and gray zones. This includes Iran’s alliance of convenience with foreign malign influence networks with other extra-regional state actors such as China and Russia. The Iranian collaboration with the Bolivarian Alliance and Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise (BJCE) gives Iran more freedom of movement and leverage access in the region and allies with Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other countries to export their malign influence, intelligence operations, criminal activities, and threat convergence strategies that are often coordinated with China and Russia.
ICAIE brings together diverse champions across sectors and communities, including governments and prominent organizations from the private sector and civil society to mobilize energies to combat cross-border illicit threats that endanger U.S. national security, global supply chains, and peace.
Find ICAIE’s New Report on Iranian Threat Networks in the Americas here.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have been exchanging rocket fire with Israel since Oct. 7, and there are concerns that Friday’s U.S. strikes on Iranian-linked groups in Syria and Iraq could prompt Hezbollah to escalate its attacks. Debora Patta reports.
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As the Israeli military and the militant group Hezbollah exchange fire over the border separating southern Lebanon and northern Israel, there are fears the raging war between Israel and Hamas could ignite a wider regional conflict.
Below is a look at what’s going on, the background to the long-simmering tension between Israel and Hezbollah, and what the risks are for the region and the world.
What is happening now along the Lebanon-Israel border?
Israel has acknowledged assassinating Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in the south of Lebanon, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz offering an unusual public confirmation in a TV interview. Several other high-profile figures from the group have also been killed.
Almost daily since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Hezbollah rockets have struck Israeli positions, including military posts, in northern Israel. Israel has also hit targets in southern Lebanon, and tens of thousands of people from border communities in both countries have been evacuated.
A map shows Israel, the Palestinian territories and surrounding countries.
Getty/iStockphoto
What is Hezbollah?
Modern-day Lebanon was founded in 1920 under a sectarian system that saw official government positions shared out among a number of recognized religious sects in the country.
The militant group Hezbollah was formed in 1982 as a Shiite Muslim political and military force with the support of Iran and Syria after an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It operates within the Lebanese government as a political party, but also outside of it, providing services to its Shiite followers and maintaining its own paramilitary force.
While not a recognized military, Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said last year that the group had some 100,000 fighters at its disposal, and it’s believed to be a better equipped, larger fighting force than Lebanon’s state military.
Like its smaller, similarly Iran-backed Hamas allies, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States government for almost two decades, and several of its leaders, including Nasrallah, are listed as global terrorists.
What does Lebanon have to do with the Israel-Hamas war?
Lebanon is a country of about 5.3 million people just to the north of Israel. The two nations have fought multiple wars.
When the state of Israel was established in 1948, more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Lebanon. The United Nations aid agency for Palestinians says there are currently between 200,000 and 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, many of whom have been left impoverished due to “decades of structural discrimination related to employment opportunities and denial of the right to own property.”
After Israel responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack by launching the war in Gaza to dismantle the group, Hezbollah started attacking targets in northern Israel in support of Hamas and the Palestinian people.
Hezbollah has said it did not know the Oct. 7 attack was coming ahead of time, and it is not believed to coordinate extensively with Hamas.
Iran’s “resistance front” and the prospect of a wider war
Iran supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen that has been attacking ships in the Red Sea, severely impacting maritime trade through the vital shipping passage.
All of the Iran-backed groups have said their actions are in support of the Palestinian people, and none of them acknowledge any orchestration or coordination with Iran, which denies any role in the attacks.
“There is, as Iran calls it, a resistance front, that everybody will support Hamas [in its fight against Israel], that it will be not only supported with arms but also with money, and will be supported diplomatically,” Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told CBS News.
Shine said Hezbollah likely would not want to engage in a war directly with Israel right now, in part due to the chaotic domestic political situation in Lebanon — a state she describes as “really on the verge of bankruptcy.”
“The anti-Hezbollah motivation within Lebanon, and the fear of escalating the situation in Lebanon into a more difficult economic situation… I think this is also a very important reason” for the group to try to avert a full-scale war, Shine said.
Hezbollah holds so much power within Lebanon that the nation’s wider government likely has little scope to decide whether a full war with Israel is fought or not. That decision lies ultimately with Hezbollah’s leaders — and their sponsors in Iran.
According to a statement by Israel’s government, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Jan. 9, that “an increase in the pressure placed on Iran is critical and may prevent regional escalation in additional arenas.”
Amid the ongoing clashes with Israel’s military, Hezbollah’s leaders have continued to frame their attacks as responses to Israel’s actions and say publicly that they are not looking for a wider war.
Haley Ott is cbsnews.com’s foreign reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau. Haley joined the cbsnews.com team in 2018, prior to which she worked for outlets including Al Jazeera, Monocle, and Vice News.
An escalation in cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is stoking fears the Israel-Gaza war could spread into new territory. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr explains the Israeli strategy behind its recent strikes into Lebanon that have killed senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah confirmed Monday that one of its senior commanders, Wissam al-Taweel, was killed in southern Lebanon. Three security sources told the Reuters news agency he and another operative were killed when their car was hit by an Israeli strike.
“This is a very painful strike,” one of the sources told Reuters, while another alluded to long-simmering concerns that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could ignite another conflict on Israel’s northern border, saying: “Things will flare up now.”
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment on al-Taweel’s death.
Since Hamas launched its unprecedented terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, there have been almost daily exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border between Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces.
At least 175 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 130 Hezbollah fighters, according to the AFP news agency. At least nine soldiers and four civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to officials in the country, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes in border communities due to the ongoing fighting.
Hezbollah is one of the world’s most heavily armed non-state military forces and, like its ally Hamas, is backed by Iran. The ongoing exchange of fire between Hezbollah militants and the Israeli military has fueled concern for four months that the conflict could develop into a wider war between Israel and Iranian backed groups.
Hezbollah’s capabilities are “ten times more,” than Hamas’, Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies, told CBS News. Shine said an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah would be unlikely, but if it did occur, she said Israel would face a much stronger fighting force in the Lebanese group than it does with Hamas.
“It’s an army that is equipped much better than the Lebanese army, and they have a lot of experience after they participated in the war in Syria,” Shine said.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on the town of Khiam in Nabatieh Governorate in southern Lebanon on January 07, 2024.
Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu/Getty
Earlier this month, a senior Hamas commander, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, along with six other Hamas militants. Al-Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing and was wanted by both the Israeli and American governments.
In response to the attack, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his own group must retaliate. He said if Hezbollah did not strike back, all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack.
“We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment,” Nasrallah said on Lebanese television.
Haley Ott is cbsnews.com’s foreign reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau. Haley joined the cbsnews.com team in 2018, prior to which she worked for outlets including Al Jazeera, Monocle, and Vice News.
