Lebanon PM Denounces 'Destructive Plan' amid Intense Israeli Strikes

People walk at a beach as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024. REUTERS
People walk at a beach as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024. REUTERS
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Lebanon PM Denounces 'Destructive Plan' amid Intense Israeli Strikes

People walk at a beach as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024. REUTERS
People walk at a beach as smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon September 23, 2024. REUTERS

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced a "destructive plan" amid intense Israeli strikes Monday on east and south Lebanon and as Israel's military said it attacked some 150 Hezbollah targets.

"The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns," Mikati told a cabinet meeting.

He urged "the United Nations and the General Assembly and influential countries... to deter the (Israeli) aggression".

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it targeted three sites in northern Israel including military production facilities in retaliation for the intense Israeli strikes on south and east Lebanon.

"In response to the Israeli enemy attacks that targeted the south and Bekaa areas", Hezbollah fighters bombed two north Israel military positions as well as the "Rafael defense industry complexes" north of the city of Haifa, the group said in a statement.



Israel’s Netanyahu: Attempt by Hezbollah to Assassinate Me Is ‘A Grave Mistake’

Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
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Israel’s Netanyahu: Attempt by Hezbollah to Assassinate Me Is ‘A Grave Mistake’

Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attempt of Iran's proxy Hezbollah to assassinate him and his wife on Saturday was "a grave mistake," after his spokesman said a drone was launched from Lebanon at his holiday home.

None of the groups firing on Israel over the last year, including the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, have claimed responsibility for that attack.

Israel’s government said a drone was launched toward the prime minister’s house Saturday, with no casualties.  

Sirens wailed Saturday morning in Israel, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon, with a drone launched toward Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, the Israeli government said.

Neither he nor his wife were home, said his spokesperson in a statement.

The strikes into Israel come as its war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah — a Hamas ally — has intensified in recent weeks.  

Hezbollah said Friday that it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel. The armed group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier in October.  

A standoff is also ensuing between Israel and Hamas, which it’s fighting in Gaza, with both signaling resistance to ending the war after Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week.  

On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him.  

“Hamas is alive and will stay alive,” Khamenei said.