United News of Bangladesh

Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport. The Israeli military had issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving more details. Also Thursday, the Israeli military announced it expanded its month-old ground operation in northern Gaza to include part of Beit Lahiya, a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war, where Israel says Hamas militants have regrouped. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese militant group is open for cease-fire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.” His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut. Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported. The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel's military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.

Lebanon’s Civil Defense service says they have pulled 30 bodies from the rubble of an apartment building that Israel struck the night before. Search efforts were ongoing Wednesday, and it was unclear how many survivors or bodies were still trapped under the rubble. The airstrike Tuesday night came without warning. There was no statement from the Israeli military on the strike, and it was not immediately clear what the intended target was. On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a surprise announcement that sparked protests across the country. Gallant’s replacement is Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant said military force created the necessary conditions for at least a temporary diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group. The Israel-Hamas war began after Palestinian militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel's military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children. Since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in 2023, at least 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,500 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported. A report by Lebanon’s crisis response unit said 361,300 Syrians and over 177,800 Lebanese crossed into Syria between Sept. 23 and Nov. 1.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region. Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement. “In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defense minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.” In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group. Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission." Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the Oct. 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his U.S. counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement. Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post. Netanyahu has a long history of neutralizing his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant. “But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.

An Israeli court on Sunday loosened a gag order on a case investigating leaks of classified information suspected to involve one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s media advisers. Critics say the leaks were aimed at giving Netanyahu political cover as Gaza cease-fire talks ground to a halt. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing, downplaying the affair and publicly calling for the gag order to be lifted. Netanyahu has said the person in question “never participated in security discussions, was not exposed to or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits.” On Sunday, an Israeli court allowed the publication of the name of the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, whom Israeli media said was one of Netanyahu’s media advisers. Israeli media reports say the case concerns the leak of classified information to two European media outlets, allegedly by Feldstein, who may not have been formally employed and did not have security clearance. The media reported Feldstein joined Netanyahu as an adviser weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks and previously worked as an adviser to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The court did not release the names of three other suspects who are also being investigated in connection with the leak. The leaked documents are said to have formed the basis of a widely discredited article in the London-based Jewish Chronicle — which was later withdrawn — suggesting Hamas planned to spirit hostages out of Gaza through Egypt, and an article in Germany's Bild newspaper that said Hamas was drawing out the talks as a form of psychological warfare on Israel. Israeli media and other observers expressed skepticism about the articles, which appeared to support Netanyahu's demands in the talks and absolve him of blame for their failure. Netanyahu made no mention of the case in a visit to Israel’s northern border with Israel Sunday, according to a video released by his office. The articles came out as Netanyahu was calling for lasting Israeli control over the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, a demand that was first made public over the summer. Hamas rejected the demand and accused Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging the talks, which have been mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The articles also seemed to provide political cover as Netanyahu faced intense criticism from the families of the hostages and much of the Israeli public, who blame him for the failure to reach a deal. The criticism reached a fever pitch in early September, with mass protests and calls for a general strike, after Hamas killed six hostages as Israeli troops closed in on them. A court document confirmed that an investigation by police, the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency is underway and that a number of suspects have been arrested for questioning. It said the affair poses “a risk to sensitive information and sources" and “harms the achievement of the goals of the war in the Gaza Strip.” The leak led to a scandal at the Jewish Chronicle, where prominent columnists resigned in protest over the discredited articles. The London-based newspaper removed the article in question and others by a freelance journalist, saying it was “not satisfied with some of his claims.” The Bild article suggested Hamas was not serious about the negotiations and was using psychological warfare to stoke Israeli divisions. Netanyahu cited it in a meeting with his Cabinet after it was published. He again defended the article in a statement released over the weekend, saying it had “exposed the Hamas methods of exerting psychological pressure from home and abroad on the Israeli government and public by blaming Israel for the failure of the talks to release the hostages.” Netanyahu has sought to blame Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel ignited the war, for the failure of the talks. Hamas, which is still holding scores of hostages, has said it will only release them in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas says those demands have not changed following last month's killing of its top leader Yahya Sinwar, as the United States, Egypt and Qatar seek to restart the negotiations. Netanyahu, often described by critics as image-obsessed, is on trial for corruption in three separate cases, two of which involve accusations that he gave favors to media moguls in exchange for positive coverage. His office has downplayed the latest affair and accused the judiciary of bias, citing the many other leaks over the course of the war. It has also denied the leak in question had any impact on the cease-fire talks. “The document only helped the effort to return the hostages, and certainly did not harm it,” Netanyahu's office said in a statement Saturday, adding that he only learned about the document when it was publicized. His critics say the allegations are far more serious. Yoav Limor, writing in the pro-Netanyahu daily Israel Hayom, called it “one of the gravest affairs Israel has ever known.” “The damage it caused extends beyond the realm of national security and gives rise to suspicion that the prime minister’s bureau acted to scuttle a hostage deal, contrary to the war’s objectives.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been transformed from a local armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization with support from Iran, Iraqi armed groups, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and others, U.N. experts said in a new report. The Iranian-backed Houthis have exploited the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and worked to enhance their status in Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” to gain popularity in the region and beyond, the experts monitoring sanctions against the Houthis said in the 537-page report to the U.N. Security Council. To support Iranian-backed Hamas militants, whose surprise attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the war in Gaza, the Houthis have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, disrupting global shipping in a key geopolitical area. Despite Houthi claims that they would target ships linked to Israel, the panel said its investigations revealed the rebels have been targeting vessels indiscriminately. Its analysis of data from the International Maritime Organization, the U.S. and the United Kingdom revealed that at least 134 attacks were carried out from Houthi-controlled areas against merchant and commercial vessels and U.S. and U.K. warships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden between Nov. 15, 2023, and July 31, 2024. “The group’s shift to actions at sea increased their influence in the region,” the U.N. experts said. “Such a scale of attacks, using weapon systems on civilian vessels, had never occurred since the Second World War.” In their attacks, the experts said, the Houthis used a new and previously undisclosed ballistic missile, the Hatem-2. The five-member U.N. panel includes experts on arms, finance, regional affairs, international humanitarian law and armed groups. The experts hail from India, Egypt, Switzerland, Belgium and Cabo Verde. Confidential sources told the panel that the Houthis are coordinating operations with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and strengthening ties to the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militant group in Somalia. The Houthis have been engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, since 2014, when they took control of the capital Sanaa and most of the north. Hopes for peace talks to end the war vanished after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The U.N. experts said the Yemen conflict, which started as an internal fight and expanded into a regional confrontation, “has now escalated into a major international crisis.” According to the experts, the number of Houthi fighters is estimated at 350,000 now, compared with 220,000 in 2022 and 30,000 in 2015. “The panel observes the transformation of the Houthis from a localized armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization, extending their operational capabilities well beyond the territories under their control,” the report said. The experts said the transformation has been possible due to the transfer of military materiel and training provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists and technicians. Military experts, Yemeni officials and even officials close to the Houthis indicated that the rebel group couldn’t produce complex weapons systems such as ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, surveillance and attack drones, portable air defense systems, and thermal sights, which they have used without foreign support, the U.N. experts said. “The scale, nature and extent of transfers of diverse military materiel and technology provided to the Houthis from external sources, including financial support and training of its combatants, is unprecedented,” the experts said. The panel said it observed similarities between multiple military items used by the Houthis and those produced and operated by Iran or its allies in the Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah and Hamas and armed groups in Iraq and Syria. It said joint operations centers have been set up in Iraq and Lebanon with Houthi representatives “aimed at coordinating joint military actions of the Axis of Resistance.” Inside Yemen, the panel said the Houthis have been intensifying military operations against the government. “The internal military situation is fragile, and any internal or external trigger could lead to the resumption of military confrontations,” it said. The Houthis also have been recruiting large numbers of Yemeni youths and children as well as exploiting Ethiopian migrants, forcing them to join the fight against the government and engage in trafficking narcotics, it said. “Exploiting high illiteracy rates, particularly in tribal areas, they have reportedly mobilized boys as young as 10 or 11, often despite parental opposition,” they said. “Recruitment sermons and weekly classes on jihad are reportedly delivered in schools.” Child recruitment reportedly increased after the war in Gaza started and the U.S. and U.K. airstrikes in Yemen, the experts said. Yemen’s government said it received 3,298 reports of child recruitment in the first half of 2024, with youngsters reportedly used as human shields, spies and in combat — and for planting landmines and explosives, reconnaissance and as cooks.

An attack on a central Israeli town early Saturday injured 11 people as Iran's supreme leader vowed a punishing response to Israel's attack last week and Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza and Lebanon. The predawn strike on Tira was one of several barrages fired from Lebanon. Many of the projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses as air raid sirens rang out in parts of the country throughout the day, while others landed in unpopulated areas. The Magen David Adom emergency service said 11 people were hurt by shrapnel and glass shards in a direct strike on a building in Tira, a predominantly Israeli Arab town. Footage showed significant damage to the roof and top floor of the three-story building and cars below. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Saturday that it had used missiles and explosive drones to target military and intelligence facilities in northern and central Israel. It claimed responsibility for firing missiles toward the Israeli military’s Unit 8200 base in Glilot, on the edge of Tel Aviv, and for firing rockets toward military facilities in Zvulun. Hezbollah also said it had targeted central Israel's Palmachim Air Base with explosive drones, saying they “scored precise hits on targets." Israel's military did not confirm whether any of the three Hezbollah targets had been hit and said it had no comment on the group's claims. Hezbollah said the Saturday dawn missile attack directed at Glilot was in retaliation for the “massacres” that are being committed by Israel. Tira, is about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Glilot. Tamar Abdel Hai, a resident of Tira, said that the attack was frightening. “I call upon all the leaders in the Arab world and the leaders in Israel and to everyone who can help to end this war. It’s enough,” he said. Hezbollah also said that its fighters fired salvos of rockets into northern Israeli towns including Dalton, Yesud HaMa’ala and Bar Yohai. Israeli media showed images of damage reportedly caused by a drone that hit a factory north of Nahariya. The army said several drones crossed from Lebanon into Israel, one was intercepted but “fallen targets were identified in the area.” Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday afternoon killed one person and wounded 15 others, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israeli planes resumed strikes on the southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight Friday, following a four-day lull in the capital. In a separate incident, a Lebanese ship captain was seized by armed men who landed on the coast of Batroun, north of Beirut, Lebanese authorities said. The Israeli military later confirmed it had captured the man, which it described as a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon. It did not name the detainee and said he was being investigated on Israeli territory. Iran threatens more attacks The early Saturday attacks may be only a precursor to a more severe strike against Israel. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, on Saturday threatened Israel and the U.S. with a punishing response over attacks on Iran and its allies following Israel's Oct. 26 airstrikes that targeted Iran's military bases and other locations. “The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a video released by Iranian state media. A further attack by Iran, which has already launched two direct attacks against Israel this year, could push the wider Middle East closer to a broader conflict. Israel is already battling the Iran-backed militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The fight against Hezbollah has weakened the group but has also taken a heavy toll on southern Lebanon and other parts of the country. On Friday, Israel launched dozens of intense airstrikes across Lebanon’s northeastern farming villages, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores more, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. Since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in 2023, more than 2,897 people have been killed and 13,150 wounded in Lebanon, according to a Health Ministry update early Friday. United Nations agencies estimate that Israel’s ground invasion and bombardment of Lebanon has displaced 1.4 million people. Residents of Israel’s northern communities near Lebanon, roughly 60,000 people, have also been displaced for more than a year. Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 42 people in 24 hours In recent weeks, Israel has also stepped up its offensive against Hamas’ remaining fighters in Gaza, raising concerns about humanitarian conditions for civilians still there. A series of Israeli strikes on Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza, killed at least 42 people, more than half of them women and children, in 24 hours, Dr. Marwan Abu Naser, director of Al-Awda Hospital that received the casualties, told The Associated Press. A further 150 were wounded, he said. Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a street in the nearby Bureij refugee camp killed at least six people, medical officials said. The dead were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah and counted by AP journalists there. Separately, the Israeli military said that two of its soldiers were killed in southern Gaza. Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News TV reported Saturday that Hamas has rejected a partial cease-fire deal in Gaza fearing that Israel will resume its operations in the enclave even after hostages are released. The TV channel has close ties to the Egyptian intelligence service and Egypt has been a key mediator throughout the yearlong conflict. Hours later, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq criticized the temporary cease-fire proposal describing it as “just a smoke screen.” Hamas has continually called for a complete end to the conflict and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as a condition for any cease-fire deal with Israel. Meanwhile, The World Health Organization began a scaled-down polio vaccination campaign on Saturday, giving second doses to at-risk children only in Gaza City after providing first doses in multiple parts of northern Gaza, which has seen intense Israeli bombardment. Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostages back to Gaza. Health officials inside Hamas-run Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of the dead in the enclave are women and children.

Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon, an Israeli military official said Saturday, as the conflict between the Iran-backed group and Israel showed few signs of easing. Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast near the northern town of Batroun on Friday. “The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated,” the military official said, without providing the name of the person in detention. The operation marks the first time Israel has announced it deployed troops deep into northern Lebanon to take a senior Hezbollah operative captive since the conflict between the two sides escalated in late September. Since then, Israeli forces began a ground invasion of southern Lebanon and intensified its airstrikes across the country, including southern Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley, killing most of Hezbollah's senior commanders. Hezbollah issued a statement describing what happened as a “Zionist aggression in the Batroun area.” The statement did not give details or confirm whether a Hezbollah member was captured by Israel. Two Lebanese military officials confirmed to The Associated Press that a naval force landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese citizen. Neither gave the man’s identity or said whether he was thought to have links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. They did not confirm whether the armed men were an Israeli force. Three Lebanese judicial officials told AP the operation took place at dawn Friday, adding that the captain might have links with Hezbollah. The officials said an investigation is looking into whether the man is linked to Hezbollah or working for an Israeli spy agency and an Israeli force came to rescue him. Both the military and judicial officials spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were unauthorized to share details about the incident or the ongoing investigation. Soon after Israel went public about the operation, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Lebanon’s foreign minister to file a complaint against Israel at the U.N. Security Council. Israel has carried out in the past commando operations deep inside Lebanon to kidnap or kill Hezbollah and Palestinian officials. Recounting the event, Lebanese residents from the apartment building where the man was seized said the armed group introduced themselves as state security. “We were terrified. They were breaking into the apartment next to ours,” Hussein Delbani told The Associated Press near where the man was captured. “I thought a state agency was doing a security operation,” said Delbani, who was displaced from south Lebanon a month ago when the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted. He said he saw from his balcony people down on the coast and they screamed again for him to go inside. Hamie told Al-Jadeed the man was a captain of civilian ships. He graduated in 2022 and in late September joined the Batroun's Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute for additional courses. Hamie said that the man lived some 300 meters (980 feet) from the institute. Hamie's remarks came shortly after two Lebanese journalists posted a video on social media showing what appeared to be about 20 armed men taking away a man from in front a house, his face covered with his shirt. Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon, denied allegations by some local journalists who said that the peacekeepers helped the landing force in the operation. The U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, has a maritime force that monitors the coast. "Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardiel said. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles from Lebanon into Israel in solidarity with Hamas immediately after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza. The yearlong cross-border fighting boiled over to full-blown war on Oct. 1, when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon for the first time since 2006.

Iran's supreme leader on Saturday threatened both Israel and the U.S. with “a crushing response” over attacks on Iran and its allies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its Oct. 26 on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people. Any further attacks from either side could engulf the wider Middle East, already teetering over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon, into a wider regional conflict just head of the U.S. presidential election this Tuesday. Khamenei issues warning of severe retaliation against Israel after airstrikes “The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front," Khamenei said in video released by Iranian state media. The supreme leader did not elaborate on the timing of the attack, nor the scope. The 85-year-old Khamenei had struck a more cautious approach in earlier remarks, saying officials would weigh Iran’s response and that Israel’s attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed.”

Israel’s air force pounded Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight, destroying dozens of buildings in several neighborhoods, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday. There was no immediate word on casualties. Recently, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the northeastern city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as different parts of southern Lebanon. International mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict. Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets almost daily into Israel, drawing retaliation. The death toll from more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has passed 43,000, Palestinian officials reported this week, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has directed military officials to prepare for a retaliatory attack on Israel following recent airstrikes that targeted Iranian military installations. This development marks a significant escalation in the ongoing tensions between the two nations, which have engaged in a series of retaliatory actions. Last week, the Israeli Air Force struck anti-aircraft systems and radar sites in Iran, claiming to have diminished key military capabilities. In response, Iranian officials have issued stern warnings of a “harsh” and “unimaginable” retaliation. Analysts suggest that Iran's response could be timed to occur after the U.S. elections on November 5, though some believe it may happen sooner. Target Lists Under Preparation Khamenei’s directive came after he assessed the damage from the Israeli strikes, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of four Iranian soldiers. Despite Iranian claims of minimal impact, Khamenei stated that any failure to respond would be seen as weakness. Military planners in Iran are reportedly creating lists of potential targets in Israel for a counteroffensive, as noted by The Times of Israel. Israeli intelligence suggests Iran may retaliate from Iraqi territory, utilizing pro-Iranian militias to reduce the risk of direct strikes against Iranian territory, thereby minimizing escalation while still delivering a robust response. Israeli Operations and Objectives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel enjoys unprecedented operational freedom within Iran, claiming that recent actions have significantly weakened Iran’s air defense capabilities. He reaffirmed Israel's commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and indicated readiness for further military operations if necessary. In a statement from his office, Netanyahu emphasized, “The main goal for the IDF and our security services is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. This has always been our primary concern.” He remarked, “We have struck at Iran’s vulnerable points. The boastful rhetoric from Iranian leaders cannot obscure the reality that Israel now has greater freedom of action in Iran than ever before. We can operate wherever necessary.” Source: agency