Israel has lined hundreds of tanks along its northern border with Lebanon as fears grow that the Middle East could soon be plunged into an all-out, three-front war.
It comes as Israel’s air force unleashed a devastating assault on Yemen’s Houthi Rebels on Sunday, striking oil reserves in Ras Issa and also the port of Hodeidah, according to Israeli army sources. Power plants were also struck in the strikes.
The strikes were reportedly in revenge for missile attacks launched into Israel by the Houthis, which has repeatedly targeted Israel with missiles and drones since October 7.
The United States has issued an urgent plea for Israel and Hezbollah to show restraint ahead of an ancitipated ground invasion by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The Israel-Hamas conflict has been escalating over the past week, with the IDF claiming to have killed 20 of Hezbollah’s senior leadership in a strike of a suburb of southern Beirut on Friday.
Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was later confirmed by the group to have been killed in the attack, which came barely a week after thousands of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers and hundreds of radios detonated in a sabotage attack widely blamed on Israel, though it is yet to comment directly.
Non-essential staff at a number of foreign embassies in Lebanon are being evacuated as the conflict threatens to spiral out of control, MailOnline reports.
Hezbollah and the Houthis are, like Hamas, backed by Iran and have vowed to fight in solidarity with the terror group, which is the de facto governing body in Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have continued, with at least 100 people killed on Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry says.
This morning, Hamas said its leader in Lebanon Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed along with some family members in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon, BBC News reports.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said last night that the country’s “message is clear – for us, no place is too far”. But experts fear that the US and Iran risk being dragged into the conflict as Israel ups the stakes in its attacks on Tehran’s family of proxy groups.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says 105 people have been killed in Israeli in the last 24 hours as army jets continue to pound the country with strikes.
Iran itself has also vowed revenge for the killing of one on of its military top brass, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, alongside Nasrallah on Friday, MailOnline reports.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned the general’s killing “will not go unanswered”.
Israel is now fighting on three fronts as its war in Gaza continues. The IDF launched a bombardment of the enclave following Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more were taken hostage.
The ground invasion and air campaign in Gaza that followed has killed more than 40,000 people, most of whom are civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
