Israel launches strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Hezbollah said today that it has successfully attacked Israeli sites.

In a statement, it said the first phase of a campaign against Israel has been completed.

“The first phase has been completed with complete success,” the statement reads. “This phase involved targeting zionist barracks and sites to facilitate the passage of attack drones towards their intended targets deep within the entity.”

The Iran-backed militant group gave some credit to its attack drones, which it said “crossed as planned” into Israel.

The group also said it has fired 320 Katyusha rockets and listed 11 Israeli bases and military sites it said were struck successfully.

NBC News has not immediately able to verify the details in the statement.

President Joe Biden is keeping an eye on the situation, a National Security Council spokesperson said.

“President Biden is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon,” NSC spokesperson Sean Savett said.

“He has been engaged with his national security team throughout the evening,” Savett said. “At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts.”

Drawing Hezbollah and possibly Iran, its backer, into Israel’s war with Hamas militants in Gaza is something the United States wants to avoid, and the White House has been pushing for a cease-fire amid ongoing talks.

“We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself,” Savett said, “and we will keep working for regional stability.”

Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion, was returning to normal operations early Sunday, a spokesperson for the Israeli Airport Authority said in a statement.

“According to the assessment of the situation, Israel Airport is expected to return to operations … including takeoffs and landings,” the spokesperson said.

The airport was shut down temporarily amid the strikes between Israel and Hezbollah, during which time some planes were diverted to alternative airports, the spokesperson said.

In a call today with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant explained Israel’s military action as preemptive and designed to protect its citizens.

Gallant declared a “special situation on the home front” in response to the back-and-forth strikes with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, saying the move can restrict gatherings to increase Israelis’ safety during the battle.

On the call, he told Austin that Israeli forces knew Hezbollah planned to attack it tonight for its assassination of a top commander last month and thus launched its preemptive operation, according to a statement provided by the Israel’s defense ministry.

“We have conducted precise strikes in Lebanon in order to thwart an imminent threat against the citizens of Israel,” he told Austin. “We are closely following developments in Beirut, and we are determined to use all the means at our disposal in order to defend our citizens.”

Both men discussed the importance of avoiding regional escalation in Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas militants in Gaza, with whom Iran and Hezbollah sympathize, according to the defense ministry.

Austin “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s defense against any attacks by Iran and its regional partners and proxies,” according to a readout of the call provided by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement today that leaders believed Hezbollah was preparing to attack.

“We conducted preemptive strikes after seeing Hezbollah starting to get ready to attack us,” he said. “We will do all it takes to protect Israel.”

He urged Israelis to be vigilant. “People can go out as long as there is shelter nearby,” he said.

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 regionwide 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.

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.

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