Israel military chief cancels Washington trip as clashes escalate with neighbors

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant canceled a planned trip to Washington this week to confer with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

According to Israeli media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it off until he speaks with President Biden about Israel’s military plans in the days ahead as Israel battles Palestinian Hamas fighters in Gaza and the West Bank, and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, and contemplates a possible direct strike on Iran.

Hezbollah militants fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, and the Shiite group’s acting leader vowed to keep up a cross-border pressure campaign that threatens to escalate into an all-out war. Separately, the Israeli military announced that more ground troops were being dispatched into southern Lebanon to push back Hezbollah forces and that yet another senior Hezbollah commander had been killed in an airstrike, the Associated Press said.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh would not confirm the reason for the last-minute cancellation by Israel’s military chief.

“We’re in constant communication with the Israeli government at different levels — including the secretary to Minister Gallant,” she told reporters. “We’re going to keep talking to them about their response.”

The Biden administration, which has pressed unsuccessfully for months for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, has urged restraint on the Netanyahu government in its latest clash with Hezbollah. The trip cancellation came as Israeli troops pushed deeper into southern Lebanon as the Iran-backed militant group launched more than 100 rockets and missiles across the border.

Israeli Air Force jet fighters pounded the launcher sites that fired at least 105 rockets and missiles at the port city of Haifa. They also hit several Hezbollah buildings and anti-tank missile posts in southern Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces officials said.

On Monday, Israel announced that a fourth division of reservists was sent into southern Lebanon, putting the number of troops inside southern Lebanon at an estimated 15,000.

“We still assess that it is contained. What we are seeing are limited operations on that northern border to clear the Hezbollah infrastructure to allow Israeli citizens to get back into that northern area,” Ms. Singh said. “This has not spread out into a wider regional conflict.”

Soldiers from the IDF’s Golani Brigade said they had discovered a hidden complex in southern Lebanon that overlooked Israeli towns along the border. IDF officials said they found a missile launcher that was loaded and ready to be fired. 

Hezbollah began firing rockets and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, rampage from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel that resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people and hundreds of others taken hostage. 

Hezbollah said it would cease the rocket attacks if Israel agreed to a cease-fire deal in Gaza. But, the targeted killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah and other top leaders in the Shiite movement in recent days has fueled fears of a broader regional conflict.

Israeli units inside Lebanon “also found underground infrastructure, hiding holes, and areas of residence and preparation used by Hezbollah elements,” IDF spokesman Avichay Andraee wrote Tuesday on X. “Weapons intended for ambushes were also discovered and destroyed.”

Israeli military officials said Suhail Husseini, a top Hezbollah logistics specialist and a conduit between Tehran and the terror group, was killed this week in an airstrike. Hezbollah has yet to confirm his death.

IDF officials on Tuesday announced that they had destroyed a Hezbollah tunnel originating in Lebanon that extended well into Israeli territory. They began constructing the tunnel about two years ago, Israel’s i24 news channel said Tuesday.

On the diplomatic front, after weeks of silence fueling speculation that he had been killed, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — the mastermind of the Oct. 7 rampage — has reportedly re-established contact with Qatari mediators or other Hamas commanders, according to multiple media reports.

“There is nothing like seeing a fellow terrorist chief assassinated to focus the mind. Clearly, Sinwar has taken note of the fate of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and decided the time is ripe to try to win some kind of reprieve — if not through a truce deal then at least through revived negotiations on such a truce,” Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank said in a statement. “He may have also been coaxed out by Iran, as Tehran fears Israeli strikes and is looking to revive diplomacy as an alternative.”

The IDF operations in southern Lebanon come a day after Israel marked the first anniversary of the devastating Hamas attack that triggered the still-ongoing war with Hamas. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a “wave of shocking violence and bloodshed” has erupted in the region since that day.

“The war that has followed the terrible attacks of one year ago continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Palestinians in Gaza and now the people of Lebanon,” Mr. Guterres said in a statement marking the anniversary.”It is time for the release of the hostages. Time to silence the guns. Time to stop the suffering that has engulfed the region.”