Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed more ‘surprise blows’ against Iran-backed terrorist groups after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly struck launch sites in Lebanon just minutes before Hezbollah was planning to fire thousands of rockets into central Israel.
‘What happened today is not the end of the story. Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones early in the morning,’ Netanyahu said at a government meeting in Tel Aviv Sunday morning. ‘We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful pre-emptive strike to remove the threat.’
‘The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, and they were all intended to harm our citizens and our forces in Galilee,’ he continued. ‘In addition, the IDF intercepted all the UAVs that Hezbollah launched for a strategic purpose in the center of the country. We are hitting Hezbollah with surprising blows…. Three weeks ago, we eliminated his chief of staff, and today, we foiled his attack plan.’
‘Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran should know that this is another step on the way to change the situation in the north and return our residents safely to their homes,’ Netanyahu added. ‘And I repeat – this is not the end of the story.’
In an earlier statement, White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said President Biden ‘is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.’
‘He has been engaged with his national security team throughout the evening. At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts. We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability,’ Savett added.
It was national security adviser Jake Sullivan leading those updates to Biden throughout the night, officials tell Fox News.
After Hezbollah announced last night that their attack was over, White House officials said they will keep monitoring the situation.
‘There are no indications right now that another round is coming,’ one official told Fox News.
A Western intelligence official told the New York Times that Israel’s preemptive attack targeted and destroyed missile launchers in Lebanon that had been programmed to fire at 5 a.m. toward Tel Aviv.
The IDF were able to carry out a preemptive attack on thousands of rocket launchers in Lebanon after information gathered from Israeli intelligence agencies, including the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), found Hezbollah was planning to use them to target strategic military sites in central Israel, including in the Gush Dan region, the Israeli English-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The IDF also intercepted drones traveling from Lebanon that were intended to target central Israel, according to the newspaper.
Approximately 100 Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed ‘thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon,’ the IDF said earlier. ‘Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel, and more than 40 launch areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes.’
The IDF said its forces struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats and identified a terrorist cell operating in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon.
‘The IAF swiftly struck the terrorists,’ IDF wrote on X.
At an earlier news briefing, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli forcesidentified ‘extensive preparation by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to fire toward the Israeli Home Front.’
‘After extensive identification, the IAF and Northern Command began proactively and broadly striking Hezbollah targets in order to remove the threats aimed at the citizens of Israel,’ Hagari said. ‘We are removing threats against the Israeli home front. Dozens of IAF jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.’
The Israeli military said it struck because Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. Soon after, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, one of its founding members, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.
By mid-morning, it appeared that the exchange had ended, with both sides saying they had only aimed at military targets, according to The Associated Press.
Israeli Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah had intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel. He said initial assessments found ‘very little damage’ in Israel, but that the military remained on high alert.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that two people were killed and another two were wounded in the strikes in southern Lebanon.
Separately, a fighter for the Amal group, which is allied with Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on a car, Amal said.
Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel, and a ‘large number’ of drones. It said the operation was targeting ‘a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later’ as well as ‘enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome (missile defense) platforms.’
Hezbollah said the strikes would allow it to launch more attacks deeper into Israel, but a later statement said that ‘military operations for today have been completed.’ The terrorist group said it targeted 11 bases, barracks and military positions in northern Israel, including the Golan Heights, and dismissed Israel’s claim to have thwarted a stronger attack. Hezbollah did not provide evidence for its claims.
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was expected to give a speech later on Sunday.
After an emergency government meeting, Lebanon’s caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said officials were ‘feeling a bit more optimistic’ about a de-escalation.
‘We feel more reassured since both sides confirmed that the expected operations ended, and we know that the negotiations in Cairo are very serious,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt on Sunday is hosting high-level talks aimed at brokering a cease-fire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which diplomats hope will tamp down regional tensions.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. is expected to make a trip to the Middle East to participate in negotiations.
‘Over the next few days, the Chairman will visit key allies and partners in the region, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, as a display of the long-term U.S. commitment to the Middle East and to further his understanding of the various perspectives of ongoing tensions,’ Joint Staff spokesperson Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey said in a statement Saturday.
Fox News’ Yonat Friling, Lucas Tomlinson, Kate Sprague and the Associated Press contributed to this report.