US takes guards for Israel ahead of ground incursion in Lebanon
Image credit X.com
Netanyahu serves veiled threat to Iran ahead of ground incursion in Lebanon
By Raisina Correspondent
New Delhi, September 30: Israeli defence forces are on the verge of making ground incursions into Lebanon, said multiple media reports on Monday. The US has reportedly worked diplomatic channels to “caution Iran against attacking Israel”.
Pentagon said on Monday that the US has moved a few thousand-armed personnel to the Middle East to protect the American interests. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent out message to the people of Iran that “Israel stands with them”.
The US-based media quoted unnamed sources in their reports to claim that the “Israel’s incursion in Lebanon will be limited and curtailed from the original plan”. Israeli media reported that the purpose of the ground incursion will aim to “dismantle the Hezbollah infrastructure”.
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“Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon is expected imminently, a US official tells me. The US believes it will be more limited than originally planned after weekend discussions with the Israelis. But US is still scared it will grow,” said CNN security correspondent Alex Marquardt in a post on X.
The Associated Press quoted sources in a newsbreak, saying: “Israel is conducting small, precision raids across the border in Lebanon and a larger operation is planned”.
Phillip Smyth, a Middle East observer, stated that “Limited could mean just south of the Litani. Albeit I think it may drive a bit further, only to pull back later.”
With his message for the people of Iran, Netanyahu appears to have sent out the message to the supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei that Tel Aviv will step up heat on sponsors of the Hezbollah.
Analysts argued that Netanyahu sent out direct threat to Tehran in his speech. “When Iran is finally free… and that moment will come much sooner than people think,” said Netanyahu in his upping the ante against Tehran.
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The security analysts see that pattern of Israeli attacks in Gaza in the aftermath of the last year’s October 7 Hamas attack unfolding now in Lebanon. They argued that Israel has cleared roadblocks with airstrikes and now the ground attacks will aim at dismantling the underground infrastructure of the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But Smyth warned that the Hezbollah has “longer range stuff: Rocket, missile, and UAV/UCAV arsenals”. On Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the security forces “destroyed a surface-to-air missile launcher storage facility that the Hezbollah had positioned approximately 1.5 kms from Lebanon’s International Airport”.
Israel said that “the Hezbollah’s aerial defence array is equipped with surface-to-air missile batteries which are hidden within civilian infrastructure, taking cover behind Lebanon’s civilian population”. “The surface-to-air missiles pose a threat to international airspace, including passenger planes, and can target any aircraft flying in Lebanese airspace,” added the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Washington Post in a report said that the “Israel’s planned operation would be smaller than the 2006 Second Lebanon ground operation and would focus on eliminating Hezbollah infrastructure along the border to remove the threat to Israeli settlements”.
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Thousands of troops being sent by the US also have the mandate to “defend Israel if needed”. Multiple squadrons of aircraft will beef up the security ring for Israel, said reports.
The Middle East security analysts have claimed that “Iran is maintaining strategic restraint”. A number of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRG) officials had also been killed along with the top leadership of the Hezbollah in the Friday attacks in South Lebanon.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iram said: “We do not chant and we will definitely give a regrettable answer to the Zionist regime; we are not afraid of war and will cut off the hands and feet of the aggressor.”
Reports said that the “US has warned Iran of strong and widespread Israel’s response if Tehran attacks Tel Aviv”. Reports said that the US delivered the threat ro Iran “by the third country in Europe that has diplomatic relations with Tehran”.
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