ISRAEL has called up thousands more troops amid fears of an imminent ground invasion.
Defence minister Yoav Gallant held talks on Saturday over the possibility of expanding Israel’s military operation – hours after they assassinated Hezbollah terror boss Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
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Mr Gallant’s office said he was conducting “an operational situation assessment” regarding “the expansion of IDF activities in the northern arena” – at the border with Lebanon.
Two US officials told ABC News that “border movements” have begun – or are about to.
They added that a ground invasion into Lebanon will likely be limited.
Pictures showed Israeli tanks and troops massing near the border on Saturday – where Israel has already sent two brigades to prepare for a possible ground invasion.
And hours after Nasrallah’s death, Israel’s military mobilised three more battalions of reserve soldiers.
On Friday night, Israel reportedly blitzed the command bunker of Hezbollah’s terror boss with more than 80 bombs in a last minute operation.
Nasrallah was killed as Israel hammered a suburb of Beirut with dozens of airstrikes targeting the group’s HQ.
Israeli strikes ripped through the terror chief’s underground bunker – eliminating the firebrand Secretary-General after a 32-year reign.
The New York Times has now reported Israeli leaders decided to take the gamble as they believed they only had a short window to kill Nasrallah.
The killing of the powerful militant group;s longtime leader sent shockwaves throughout Lebanon and the Middle East.
He has been a dominant political and military figure for more than three decades.
Over the last 11 months, Israel has eliminated nearly all of the terrorist top brass.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu personally signed off the attack while in New York for the UN General Assembly.
In his first public remarks since the assassination, Netanyahy said they had “settled the score” with the killing – and vowed to “continue to strike our enemies”.
Warning of more to come, he said: “There is no place in Iran nor the Middle East where the long arm of Israel cannot reach.”
US President Joe Biden said the killing of Nasrallah was a “measure of justice” for his many victims.
There is no place in Iran nor the Middle East where the long arm of Israel cannot reach
Benjamin Netanyahu
He said: “The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”
Nasrallah has been in hiding for years amid increasing tensions with Israel with him rarely being seen in public.
His last national appearance followed the deadly pager and walkie-talkie blasts earlier this month.
The death is another watershed moment in the 11-month long war that has seen thousands killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes.
In the hours after the blitz on the Hezbollah terror boss, Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have fired a ballistic missile at Netanyahu as he landed back in Israel.
Air raid sirens sounded across Israel on Saturday afternoon after the Houthi attempt as the missile fired from Yemen was intercepted, the Israeli military said.
On Sunday, Israel continued blasting “dozens” of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces “attacked dozens of terrorist targets in the territory of Lebanon in the last few hours,” the army said.
They said the strikes targeted “buildings where weapons and military structures of the organisation were stored”.
More than 700 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to health ministry figures, since the bombing of Hezbollah strongholds began earlier this month.
How Nasrallah’s death could drag the West and end up with Khamenei’s assassination
By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter
ISRAEL has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a series of massive aircraft strikes that rocked Lebanon.
It is all but certain that his death will mark a huge shift in the Middle East crisis, with Hezbollah being left incredibly weak and Iran losing grip on its biggest terror proxy.
Many experts are seeing the death of Nasrallah – considered by many to be the single most powerful individual in Lebanon – as a potential escalation in the regional crisis that could now explode into an all-out war.
And they fear that the West could soon get dramatically involved in the conflict.
Dr Alan Mandoza, Executive Founder of Brit think tank Henry Jackson Society, told The Sun: “The most likely Western power to become involved in any Middle Eastern conflict right now is the US, which might be brought into war through a Hezbollah or Iranian response to Israel’s recent successes.
“If Israel is bombarded by missile strikes, the US might well join in with its defence.
“(But) if the attack was from Iran, it could even see the UK and France join in.
“If Iran responds with real aggression then this could see a regional war break out. “
It’s feared Iran could respond by targeting Israel directly, sending weapons through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon or sending fighters to Lebanon to shore up Hezbollah, Professor Fawaz Gerges from LSE told Sky News.
Following Nasrallah’s death, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – one of his closest allies – issued a chilling message to Israel.
He did not mention Nasrallah – but slammed Israel for the massive blitz on Lebanon.
Khamenei said Lebanon would make Israel “regret their actions” and blasted the “shortsighted and foolish” policies of Israeli leaders.
He claimed Israel was “too small” to cause any damage to Hezbollah.
However, there have been multiple reports as of this morning suggesting that Khamenei has been moved to a safe hideout inside Iran, prompting speculations that he too could be on Israel’s hit list.
Dr Alan added: “Israel has already shown its ability to strike inside Iran with missiles and assassinations, so Ayatollah Khamenei will certainly be aware that he is an Israeli target.
“Israel will need a plan like the one it has deployed against Hezbollah in recent months in order to ensure that this is not simply one assassination but part of a concerted and concentrated assault against the whole of Iran’s leadership and the Islamic State’s ability to defend itself.”
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