Today, Hezbollah continued launching rockets into Israel, including the Tel Aviv area. In addition to more than 65 rockets, it also launched ballistic missiles and drones at the Jewish state. Two Israelis were killed, and at least three others were wounded.
Israel responded by striking roughly a dozen Hezbollah command rooms in southern Lebanon today, including some belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and its aerial forces, known as Unit 127, which is responsible for drone attacks on Israel.
The IAF also took out Hezbollah weapons depots and other terrorist infrastructure in Beirut. Among the targets was a central base of Hezbollah's Naval Unit, where it stored military speedboats intended for attacks against Israeli Navy vessels and against strategic targets along Israel’s coasts.
Watch one of the strikes here, which Israel carried out after warning civilians to evacuate:
Meanwhile, White House envoy Amos Hochstein met yesterday with senior Lebanese officials, including Hezbollah-allied Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
At a press conference in Beirut, Hochstein said a solution must be based on Resolution 1701 but stressed that "we have to put things in place [in addition to the resolution] that give both sides the confidence that things will be different this time around. Public commitment to the resolution is not enough."
Israel is reportedly insisting on new enforcement mechanisms to ensure any end of the war based on Resolution 1701 does not allow Hezbollah to regroup, rearm and once again threaten Israelis.
Blinken, Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem
Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jerusalem for around 2.5 hours, including a one-on-one meeting and a broader discussion with their staffs.
Netanyahu updated Blinken on Israel’s operations, raised "the need for both countries to join forces against" the Iranian threat, and thanked Blinken for America’s support "in the fight against Iran’s axis of evil and terrorism," according to an Israeli readout.
The American readout focused on "the importance of charting a new path forward in the post-conflict period," both in Gaza and Lebanon. Blinken also highlighted "the need to deter further regional aggression from Iran and its proxies" and "reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security."
Blinken will now travel to other countries in the region, as he seeks a broad hostage-ceasefire agreement.
Hostage families to Blinken: Pressure Qatar for hostage deal
In Tel Aviv, Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew also met today with families of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
The families urged Blinken to increase the pressure on Hamas to release the hostages. "Apply more pressure on the mediating countries, especially Qatar, to restart negotiations and leverage Sinwar's elimination into a deal for releasing all hostages," they told Blinken, according to a readout from the families.
They also expressed gratitude to Blinken and the U.S. administration for their ongoing efforts to secure the release of the 101 remaining hostages.
U.S. charges senior Iranian official in assassination plot
Today, the U.S. Justice Department announced murder-for-hire, money-laundering, and sanctions-evasion charges against Ruhollah Bazghandi, a senior Iranian military official.
"The Justice Department has now charged eight individuals, including an Iranian military official, for their efforts to silence and kill a U.S. citizen because of her criticism of the Iranian regime," Attorney General Merrick Garland said. "We will not tolerate efforts by an authoritarian regime like Iran to undermine the fundamental rights guaranteed to every American."
"Today’s indictment exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime," FBI Director Christopher Wray added. "According to the charges, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a former Iranian intelligence officer, working with a network of conspirators, planned to kill a dissident living in New York City."
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