Israeli forces begin 'targeted' ground operation in Lebanon, IDF says

Israel expanded its attacks today on Iran-backed militant groups across the region after the killing of the powerful Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israeli soldiers have started "targeted" ground operations inside Lebanon, the IDF said. Israeli officials notified the U.S. that the incursion would be limited in scope, scale and duration. The operation would aim to push Hezbollah forces farther away from the Israeli border.

Israel has expanded its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups across the region after the killing of the powerful Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel has also launched small special forces operations into southern Lebanon ahead of a potential ground offensive, an Israeli official told NBC News. Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, said the “next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”

Elsewhere, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in comments directed at Iran that nowhere in the Middle East was beyond Israel’s reach two days after Israel killed Nasrallah.

The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, denied knowing that its employee Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon. The head of Hamas’ Lebanon branch was killed along with family members in an Israeli strike, the group said earlier.

President Joe Biden called for a cease-fire “right now” when he was asked whether he was comfortable with Israeli plans to invade Lebanon. “I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping,” he told reporters at the White House.