Israel expands Lebanon offensive as Iran warns of ‘no red lines’

The News

Israel expanded its offensive in southern Lebanon Sunday, calling on the United Nations to evacuate its peacekeeping units and allegedly using tanks to burst through the gates of a peacekeeper base.

The call comes just days after Israeli forces injured several UN peacekeepers, drawing international criticism. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has been a vocal supporter of Israel, spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and denounced the attacks.

The push marks the latest escalation in Israel’s onslaught against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group and one of the most powerful political parties in Lebanon — despite its losses, Hezbollah is “falsely presenting Israeli ground operations as a failure in order to degrade Israeli will and underscore Hezbollah’s own resilience,” the Institute of War said in a recent report.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister pushed back on the idea Iran might not respond to an expected Israeli attack in retaliation for Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile attack on Israel, warning that there are “no red lines” for such a defense and that Iran is prepared for a “war situation.” The US Department of Defense authorized the deployment of a weapons system to support Israel’s air defenses and troops Sunday, to bolster the “defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” according to a Pentagon spokesperson.