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Israel-Gaza-Lebanon updates: Israel planning limited ground operation in Lebanon

The operation could begin "immediately," according to a senior U.S. official.

Last Updated: September 30, 2024, 12:07 PM EDT

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.

12:07 PM EDT

Israel imminently planning limited ground operation in Lebanon: Senior US official

The U.S. expects Israel to imminently begin a limited ground operation into Lebanon that would be targeted, in order to clear out Hezbollah infrastructure near Israeli border communities and then pull their forces back, according to a senior U.S. official.

This could start "immediately," according to the senior official.

Israeli soldiers check military vehicles at a gathering site next to the border with Lebanon as seen from an undisclosed location in northern Israel, Sept. 30, 2024.
Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

-ABC News' Selina Wang

12:00 PM EDT

Biden tells Israel to stop when asked about possible Lebanon invasion

Speaking to reporters Monday at the White House, President Joe Biden addressed Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon and reports that they are preparing for a limited ground operation.

The comment, which followed Biden’s remarks on Hurricane Helene, came after a reporter asked if he was aware of and "comfortable" with the possibility of Israel invading Lebanon.

"I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now," Biden replied.

President Joe Biden speaks about the federal response efforts for Hurricane Helene, from the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024.
Susan Walsh/AP

10:11 AM EDT

Middle East 'safer' without 'brutal' Nasrallah, Blinken says

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was "a brutal terrorist, whose many victims included Americans, Israelis, civilians in Lebanon, civilians in Syria and many others as well."

A billboard bearing a picture of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah -- killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut -- is displayed in Tehran, Iran on Sept. 30, 2024.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

During a ministerial meeting on defeating ISIS in Washington, D.C., Blinken said Hezbollah under Nasrallah's leadership "terrorized people across the region and prevented Lebanon from fully moving forward as a country."

"Lebanon, the region, the world, are safer without him," Blinken added.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut on Friday, marking the most significant blow yet to Hezbollah over almost a year of cross-border conflict with Israel.

Israeli airstrikes are continuing across Lebanon and in the capital. A U.S. official told ABC News on Sunday that small-scale cross-border Israeli ground operations may have already begun, as a prelude to a wider offensive into southern Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah targets.

Blinken said the U.S. and its partners would continue to work toward a diplomatic solution "that provides real security to Israel, to Lebanon, and allows citizens on both sides of the border to return to their homes."

"Diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East," he said. "The United States remains committed to urgently driving these efforts forward."

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston

9:51 AM EDT

'Nowhere' Israel cannot reach, Netanyahu warns Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to anti-government sentiment in Iran on Monday, telling the Iranian people: "With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you -- the noble Persian people -- closer to the abyss."

Israeli Prime Minister addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 27, 2024.
Pamela Smith/AP

"Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza," the prime minister said in a video statement posted to social media.

"Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war. Every day, their puppets are eliminated."

"Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask [Hassan] Nasrallah," Netanyahu said, referring to the Hamas military commander -- whose death the group has not confirmed -- and the former Hezbollah leader. Israel claims Deif was killed in Gaza in July, while Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on Friday.

"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu said.

"Iran's tyrants don't care about your future," Netanyahu continued. "When Iran is finally free -- and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think -- everything will be different."

"Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace," Netanyahu said. "The people of Iran should know -- Israel stands with you."

Tehran has not yet responded to Netanyahu's statement. But on Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said his country would not deploy volunteer troops to Lebanon in response to Israel's expanding campaign there against Hezbollah.

"We believe that the governments and nations of the region have the necessary ability and authority to defend themselves," he said. "We have not had any request from anyone, and we know that they do not need deployment of human forces from our side."

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Somayeh Malekian

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