Hezbollah on Saturday (local time) said it launched dozens of rockets at Israel as tensions in the Middle East soared with Iran and its allies reading their response to the killing of Hamas's political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this week. Amid fears of a regional war, US President Joe Biden hoped that Iran would "stand down" despite its threats to attack Israel.
Three US and Israeli officials said they had expected Iran to attack Israel as early as Monday, according to an Axios report.
ISRAEL-IRAN-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS UPDATES:
Israel said its famed Dome system intercepted most rockets fired by Hezbollah. Israeli authorities said several impacts were recognised near Beit Hillel. According to local media, fires were reported in the area.
The US, Israel's ally, said it was boosting its military presence in the Middle East to protect its personnel and defend the Jewish nation amid soaring tensions. Washington said it would deploy an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers and a new fighter squadron in the region.
Biden, at his beach home in Delaware, was asked about Iran's threat to attack Israel amid the tensions in the region. He was asked whether Iran would stand down to which he replied, "I hope so. I don't know."
The US Embassy in Beirut has asked its people to immediately leave Lebanon on "any ticket available" amid fears of a fresh war in the region. The advisory came after UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned that the regional situation "could deteriorate rapidly". Several countries, including Jordan, Canada and India, have issued similar advisories for their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Iran, which blames Israel for the killing of Haniyeh, said it expected Hezbollah to strike deeper inside Israel and that the group would no longer be confined to military targets.
Significantly, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups from Yemen, Iraq and Syria are already involved in the nearly 10-month-old war between Israel and Palestinian outfit Hamas in Gaza.
In another related development, an Israeli drone strike in the southern Lebanon town of Bazourieh killed Ali Abd Ali, a prominent Hezbollah operative, The Times of Israel reported. According to the Israeli military, Ali was a "central terrorist" in Hezbollah's Southern Front.
Hezbollah confirmed Ali's killing in the strike and warned of retaliation on Israel. According to Lebanese media, two people were injured in the Israeli strike that killed Ali.
Violence spread to West Bank as Israel traded fire with Hezbollah on Saturday. Israeli strikes on a school compound in Gaza City, ruled by Hamas, killed 17 people.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his French and British counterparts on Saturday about the situation in the Middle East and all agreed on the need by all sides to exercise restraint, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
