Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was taken out in an Israeli attack Friday on Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut. The United States has said justice was served to Nasrallah, a key Iranian ally in the region.
However, Washington is also urging a diplomatic solution to a conflict that is moving ever-closer to an all-out war, especially as Israel threatens a ground invasion.
Israel expanded its air strikes across Lebanon over the weekend, hitting central Beirut on Monday for the first time in months. Local officials say more than 1,000 people have been killed across Lebanon over the past week, including 100 on Sunday.
“There’s no safe place guaranteed in Lebanon,” Jihan Kaisi, the head of a group helping displaced people, told NBC News.
Pressing questions about the conflict now include:
- Whether Israel will move ahead with a ground invasion
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How Iran will respond
- Where cease-fire talks stand
Multiple outlets reported Monday that Israel has informed the United States of plans to launch a limited ground incursion into Lebanon early this week.
Israeli forces have already carried out limited raids across the border Monday, targeting Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force — believed to be hiding in tunnels close to the border.
U.S. officials say they have been told that Israel will not conduct a full-scale invasion.
“They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but we’re in continuous conversations with them about it,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in Monday’s briefing.
But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated to troops Monday that some type of a ground invasion was imminent.
Hezbollah’s backer Iran, meanwhile, still has not made any big retaliatory moves over Nasrallah nor the July assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, blamed on Israel.
Sources told Reuters that Iran reached out to Hezbollah and its other proxy groups in the region to decide what response to take to Nasrallah’s killing. In addition to backing Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran also arms the Houthis in Yemen and numerous militias in Syria and Iraq.
One option for revenge would be for Iran to press its proxies to increase attacks on Israel and U.S. troops and interests in the Middle East.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
