IDF ‘targets senior Hezbollah leader’ as airstrikes hit 1,100 targets in 24 hours prompting US to send more troops
ISRAEL has hit over 1,100 enemy targets in the past 24 hours as they continue to try to eliminate senior Hezbollah leaders.
The devastating day of fighting has also prompted the US to send more troops to the Middle East amid fears of an all-out war exploding on the Lebanese border.
Fighting has dramatically ramped up in Lebanon, with Israel’s military deploying electronic sabotage attacks and several missile barrages on the Iran-backed terror group.
The latest IDF strikes this afternoon saw a barrage of bombs dropped on southern Lebanon with 274 reportedly killed and over 1,000 injured in the precision assaults.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military was going after “infrastructure that Hezbollah built up for years.”
They said the other main target was senior Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki, who they believe was in one of the homes hit.
It is not yet clear what happened to the chief, but Hezbollah officials claimed that he is still alive and well.
This is the latest of the IDF’s widespread strikes in southern Lebanon as they continue to hunt Hezbollah kingpins.
The terrifying state of the war-torn region has raised concerns with many warning a continued escalation could turn catastrophic.
In what appears to be a reaction to the surging violence, the Pentagon has declared it is sending even more troops to the region.
The Department of Defense announced today that “additional” service members will be joining up with the 40,000 fighters already in the Middle East.
A dozen US warships and fighter jet squadrons are also in the region on standby.
“In light of the increased tensions in the Middle East, and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional US military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region,” Press Secretary General Pat Ryder said on Monday at the Pentagon.
It is still unclear the exact number of troops being sent over or where they are being stationed.
The Pentagon has already bolstered its US Central Command since tensions in the Middle East reached boiling point almost a year ago.
An additional 7,000 troops were sent across in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Navy warships were quickly deployed across the region, with some in the Red Sea and another six warships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Four squadrons of fighter jets are also in the Middle East, as well as advanced F-22 fighter jets, which arrived last month, Military Times reported.
Their presence in the Middle East is designed to help defend Israel in their war as well as to protect US and allied assets.
Ryder also urged any US citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as they could.
It comes as last month the US military also announced plans to help step up the hunt for Hamas boss Yahya Sinwar.
They shipped in radar to trace the kingpin’s tunnel lair with officials believing killing him could allow Israel to end the conflict in Gaza.
The CIA also set up a task force and the Pentagon has sent special operations troops to support Israel’s hunt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered further attacks in the coming days as he blasted Hezbollah, saying, “Whoever hurts us, we will hurt him more”.
Pager and walkie-talkie strike
The spike in fighting follows the coordinated pager and walkie-talkie blitz last week with Israel sabotaging communications devices.
The attacks were aimed at Hezbollah and hit the terror group’s fighters and civilians in Lebanon and Syria.
The strikes, which hit Tuesday and Wednesday, killed at least 39 and left thousands more injured.
Doctors in Lebanon have been overwhelmed by casualties after two waves of blasts – with many left blinded.
Skilled physicians say they have never had to surgically remove more eyes before as Hezbollah’s boss labelled the strikes a possible “declaration of war” from Israel.
One of those injured was the Iranian envoy to the country who has reportedly lost an eye.
Hezbollah’s boss Hassan Nasrallah said the group intends to seek revenge for the attacks that “crossed over all the red lines” and will not stop until the war in Gaza ends.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder”.
Israel reportedly planted the explosives inside the pagers in a years’ long operation that involved firms in Taiwan and Hungary.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has ordered all members to stop using any types of communication devices, Reuters reports.
Despite Israel’s promise to keep up their attacks fresh reports say they may be willing to move towards the negotiating table with Hezbollah.
“We are going to hit them hard, but we will stop if they decide it’s time to move toward negotiations,” an Israeli official reportedly told The Times of Israel.
It comes as Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel of waging “a war of extermination.”
Hezbollah has also warned Israel will face an “open-ended battle of reckoning” on the border.
Over 160,000 people in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes on the border since the conflict began.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border in parallel with the war Israel has waged in Gaza against Hamas after October 7.
Hezbollah has named 497 members killed by Israel during the ongoing fighting since October, including troops lost during this week’s pager and walkie-talkie strike.
The group was said to be “rudderless” and in “disarray” after all its fighters were killed and lost one means of communication.