Israel is expanding its wave of attacks in Lebanon, carrying out its deepest attack in Beirut in nearly 20 years, and now it's widening its war into Yemen. Iran is vowing revenge, pushing the Middle East closer to the brink. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for TODAY.
Israel has also launched small special forces operations into southern Lebanon ahead of a potential ground offensive, an Israeli official tells NBC News. It came as Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, said the “next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”
The offensive will be limited in duration and scope, possibly beginning as early as tonight and lasting for days, not weeks, they said, adding that the geographical reach will be limited. NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports that many there fear what happened in Gaza will happen to them as well.Israel has informed the U.S. of their plans for limited ground operations in Lebanon focusing on infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah militant group, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said today.
“This emergency funding aims to tackle the most urgent needs such as protection, food assistance, shelter and health care,” a statement from the E.U. said Saturday. “The E.U. stands ready to provide further support by mobilising all the available emergency response tools, including via use of the Civil Protection Mechanism.“People in Lebanon, including refugees, were already experiencing high levels of poverty and food insecurity while having limited access to services,” the E.U. added.
The resolution also called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. The Litani river lies about 20 miles from Lebanon’s southern border. “I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” he told reporters at the White House. “We should have a cease-fire right now.”
She added that Iran could mobilize attacks from the Yemen-based Houthi militia “against sensitive targets inside Israel." "In view of the situation, the Federal Foreign Office raised the crisis level for the foreign missions in Beirut, Ramallah and Tel Aviv again at the weekend and initiated a diplomatic pick-up," the statement said.
“There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” Netanyahu said. “Such indiscriminate bombings of residential areas in Lebanon lead to a huge amount of victims and will inevitably result in a humanitarian disaster, the same as we see in Gaza,” he said.Satellite images taken Aug. 25 and yesterday show the area of southern Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Filippo Grandi said in a post on X that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and the Syrian Red Crescent to support new arrivals.Fears are growing that “no one is safe” in Lebanon after Israel’s airstrike in central Beirut, according to the executive director of a humanitarian nongovernmental organization working to support families displaced by the bombing campaign.
Some families have been forced to sleep on the streets, in playgrounds and in parking lots after makeshift shelters set up in schools became too overcrowded, she added. “We will always stand by the civilians,” he said in a post on X, adding that he had brought 12 tons of medical equipment to be used to treat 1,000 seriously injured people.
Asked about the civilian deaths in the incident, the spokesperson said “every civilian victim is one civilian victim too many.”Israel has been launching small special forces operations into southern Lebanon ahead of a potential ground offensive, an Israeli official told NBC News.
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