8:07 am (Israel time)
Universities cancel exams after IDF strikes, Hezbollah attack
Universities announce the cancelation of activities after the IDF preemptively struck Hezbollah and the terror group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Tel Aviv University announces it is canceling exams today, but other routine services will continue.
The Technion and University of Haifa say all activities are currently canceled.
The Haifa campus of Ono Academic College will hold classes on Zoom, while exams today and tomorrow are canceled.
5min ago
IDF says Hezbollah aimed to fire on central Israel, attack thwarted with airstrikes
By EMANUEL FABIAN
The Hezbollah terror group intended to launch projectiles at central Israel this morning, according to the IDF.
The military says it foiled the attack during this morning’s preemptive airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
But the majority of the Hezbollah rocket launchers struck by the Israeli Air Force this morning were aimed at northern Israel, according to the IDF.
In all, thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers were struck simultaneously by some 100 IAF fighter jets in the preemptive attacks.
From the New York Times:
Here’s the latest on the conflict.
The Israeli military said early Sunday that it had launched predawn airstrikes at targets in southern Lebanon, and warned that Hezbollah was planning to launch an “extensive” attack on Israeli territory. The fighting threatened to plunge the region into a wider conflict.Aug. 25, 2024, 12:48 a.m. ET28 minutes ago
“From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the south of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman. “We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety.”
Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire for months, raising fears that Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip would engulf the region. On Sunday, the Israeli military said that Hezbollah would soon fire rockets, and possibly missiles and drones, into Israeli territory. Minutes later, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire were sounding in many Israeli communities near the border with Lebanon.
The extent of damage on either side was not immediately clear early Sunday morning. But Israel declared a state of emergency and closed the Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv until 10 a.m. local time.
In the wake of the Israeli attack, Hezbollah said that it had begun an “initial response” to the Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah senior commander, in late July. The Lebanese militant group said it had fired a large number of drones at targets in Israel. “These military operations will take some time to complete, and after that a detailed statement will be issued,” the group said in a statement.
The wider diplomatic implications of Israel’s pre-dawn strikes were not immediately clear. Negotiators had been expected to gather in Cairo this week for a new round of talks for a potential cease-fire in Gaza, even as fighting has raged in the enclave and on Israel’s northern border.
Concerns of a wider conflict in the region have been elevated in recent weeks, following the assassinations in quick succession last month of two prominent adversaries of Israel — including one on Iranian soil.
The first was of Mr. Shukr, and the second was of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated on July 31 during a visit to Tehran. Israel claimed responsibility for the airstrike on Mr. Shukr in the Beirut suburbs, but has remained silent about the other killing.
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, declared that his group’s conflict with Israel had entered a new phase after Israel assassinated a Hezbollah commander last month. Israel has also been expecting a response from Iran, but did not mention Iran in its statement on Sunday.
Still, it warned other rivals not to join the conflict.
“Hezbollah’s ongoing aggression risks dragging the people of Lebanon, the people of Israel — and the whole region — into a wider escalation,” Admiral Hagari said. “We are operating in self-defense from Hezbollah, and any other enemy that joins in their attacks against us — and we are ready to do everything we need to defend the people of Israel.”
Isabel Kershner, Aaron Boxerman and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
Isabel Kershner
In a second statement, Hezbollah said it had successfully completed the first stage of its attack on Israel. Hezbollah said it had fired more than 320 rockets at nearly a dozen Israeli military bases and positions, a figure that would make the barrage one of the largest of the war if confirmed. It was not immediately clear any of the rockets had hit their targets.
Aug. 25, 2024, 12:38 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
Euan Ward
Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported that Israel’s strikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday were “the most violent” since the war in Gaza began in October. At least two people were injured, one of them critically, and the strikes caused “severe damage” to local infrastructure, including electricity and water networks, the agency said.
Trying to Head Off War, U.S. Moves Naval Forces Closer to Israel
A U.S. fighter jet taking off from the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier when it was in the East Sea a few months ago. It is now in or near the Gulf of Oman, the Pentagon said.Credit...Aaron Haro Gonzalez/U.S. Navy, via Associated PressWith fears rising that a wider war could break out in the Middle East, the United States has steadily been moving Navy forces closer to the area, including two aircraft carrier groups and an attack submarine. And it has not been shy about announcing the details, in a clear effort to deter Iran and its allies from more intense attacks on Israel.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered additional combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the region.
Two aircraft carriers — the Theodore Roosevelt and the Abraham Lincoln — and their accompanying warships and attack planes are now in or near the Gulf of Oman. Mr. Austin also made public his order to send the attack submarine Georgia to the region, an unusual move as the Pentagon seldom talks about the movements of its submarine fleet. The Georgia can fire cruise missiles and carry teams of Navy SEAL commandos.
The orders came in response to threats from Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen to attack Israel to avenge the assassination of a top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran on July 31.
While the United States has said these moves are to help defend Israel and avert a wider regional war, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday night that the American military was better positioned to address a threat from Iran, and that the Israeli Defense Forces would shoulder the bulk of any defense from attacks carried out by Hezbollah across the border in Lebanon.
