Israel is firing strikes into Lebanon as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies.
Israel believes it has eliminated around 30 top Hezbollah leaders over the last several weeks, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
"We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear -- to safely return the residents of the north," Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
"To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians," Halevi said.
Sep 25, 2024, 7:18 AM EDT
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war 'wouldn't solve the problem,' Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon "needs to be contained."
"We're working to make sure this doesn't get into a full-scale war," Blinken said. Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: "I do."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during an event supporting the "Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats" on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United National General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 24, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
"Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve," Blinken said, noting Hezbollah's near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The "best way" to address Israel's problems in the north, Blinken continued, "is through diplomacy."
There were "a number of times" where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said. "Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening."
"But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn't solve the problem."
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah's "unprovoked" attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
"Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced," the president said.
"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest," he added. "Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely."
"That's what we're working tirelessly to achieve," Biden said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel's ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran on Sept. 25, 2024.
Office Of The Iranian Supreme Leader/via Reuters
Khamenei touted the "organizational and human strength and the authority and ability" of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks "martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah," Khamenei wrote.
"This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah," he added.
In a speech to a group of Iran-Iraq war veterans, also on Wednesday, Khamenei said Hezbollah is "victorious" despite its losses. If Israel "had been able to defeat the fighting forces, it would not have needed to show its face by killing women and children," he added.
"The enemy doesn't have the courage to attack Iran's borders, so they show their mischief and enmity in another way," Khamenei continued.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Somayeh Malekian
Sep 25, 2024, 6:18 AM EDT
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday -- citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
Lebanese people fleeing the Israeli bombardment arrive at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdaidet Yabous, Syria, on Sept. 24, 2024.
Omar Sanadiki/AP
"Now probably they're approaching half a million" Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the "bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes."
"It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority."
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR's count.
