Israel 'approved Lebanon attack' hours before Hezbollah rocket fire
The Israeli government approved an attack on Lebanon on Sunday night, hours before Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, Israel's Channel 12 News has reported.
According to the report, senior Israeli security officials presented intelligence to the cabinet indicating that Hezbollah was planning to attack Israel.
As ministers weighed possible military responses, the report said their primary concern was securing international legitimacy for striking Lebanon.
Within minutes of discussion, the Israeli cabinet approved a military operation against Lebanon, but Hezbollah fired first on Sunday night.
Sources close to Hezbollah told Middle East Eye the group believed an Israeli war cabinet meeting was on the verge of taking a major decision against it that same night and decided to act first.
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The sources added that Hezbollah viewed its attack on Israel as not merely retaliatory but also preemptive: a way to force an immediate shift on the ground, clear personnel and civilians from vulnerable areas and blunt the scale of casualties ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack.
Since then, Israel has carried out widespread attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs, including Dahiyeh, and across southern and eastern Lebanon. At least 61 people have been killed and 335 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Channel 12 reported that Israel's response "will only intensify in the coming days, regardless of what Hezbollah chooses to do".
For many Lebanese, the latest escalation revived memories of the devastating 66-day war Israel and Hezbollah fought in 2024.
Its deadliest day, 23 September 2024, claimed 492 lives, and the two-day toll reached 569, marking one of Lebanon's bloodiest episodes in decades.
Against this backdrop, people familiar with Hezbollah's thinking say that while this week's casualties were severe, they remained below the group's feared losses from a surprise Israeli assault.
Israel vows to destroy Hezbollah
On Monday, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz warned on X: "Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for the firing toward Israel."
"Whoever follows in Khamenei's path will soon find himself together with him in the depths of hell, along with all those eliminated from the axis of evil."
As Israel's aerial assault on Lebanon intensifies, the Israeli army has deployed additional troops to the south. The military has ordered residents across much of southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and move north of the Litani River.
Lebanon's social affairs minister said on Wednesday that about 65,000 displaced people have registered at shelters across the country. Another 10,000 to 20,000 people have also been forced from their homes but are still travelling or staying temporarily with others while they register for assistance.
On Monday, the Lebanese government banned Hezbollah's military and security activities, as Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on the group to hand over its "illegal" weapons.
That day, Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned that war will not end "before the threat from Lebanon is removed".
"We will conclude the campaign when not only Iran is harmed, but Hezbollah also suffers a very heavy blow. We will continue to insist that Hezbollah be disarmed," Zamir said, adding that the Lebanese government did not do enough to disarm it.
Israeli news site Ynet reported on Wednesday that Hezbollah fired around 30 rockets at Israel overnight. No civilian casualties were reported.
However, the army spokesperson said that two soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah attack.
Rafi Milo, head of Israel's Northern Command, claimed that Hezbollah had "fallen into a strategic trap", as the army executes an attack plan for the northern front that it has prepared over the past eight months.
According to the Northern Command, so far Israel attacked around 250 targets across Lebanon, killing senior commanders in Hezbollah.
As the Israeli army said that about 300,000 Lebanese were forced to flee their homes in south Lebanon following expulsion orders, Milo vowed to strike Hezbollah "with force across all areas of Lebanon, whether in Beirut, Tyre or Sidon".
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