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Israel Reinforces Military Presence in Lebanon after Iran Attack

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Reinforces Military Presence in Lebanon after Iran Attack

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, October 1, 2024. (Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armored units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, as Israel prepared to retaliate against a barrage of Iranian missile strikes.

Already battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel is beefing up its presence in south Lebanon in its conflict with Hezbollah a day after it was attacked by Iran, raising fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.

The addition of infantry and armored troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armored Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggests that the operation has moved beyond limited commando raids.

The military has said the ground operation is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in southern Lebanon.

Iran said on Wednesday its missile attack on Israel, its biggest military assault on the country, was over, barring further provocation, while Israel and the United States promised to hit back.

Israel will launch a "significant retaliation" within days that could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites, US news website Axios reported on Wednesday citing Israeli officials.

Despite calls for a ceasefire from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.

Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group, with at least a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging to the group.

NEW EVACUATION ORDERS

Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from parts of the suburbs. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which has largely emptied after days of heavy strikes.

Hezbollah said it confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday and forced them to retreat.

Iran said Tuesday's assault on Israel was solely aimed at military facilities. Iran's state news agency said three Israeli military bases had been targeted.

Tehran said its assault was a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon against Hezbollah and in Gaza.

"Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to strike back. "Iran made a big mistake tonight - and it will pay for it," he said at the outset of an emergency political security cabinet meeting late on Tuesday, according to a statement.

Washington said it would work with longtime ally Israel to ensure Iran faced "severe consequences" for Tuesday's attack, which Israel said involved more than 180 ballistic missiles.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant late on Tuesday and said Washington was "well-postured" to defend its interests in the Middle East, the Pentagon said in a statement.

US Navy warships fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles headed toward Israel, the Pentagon said. Britain said its forces played a part "in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East", without elaborating.

The Pentagon said Tuesday's airstrikes by Iran were about twice the size of April's assault by Iran on Israel.

'THE RESPONSE WILL BE PAINFUL'

Israel activated air defenses against Iran's bombardment on Tuesday and most missiles were intercepted "by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the United States," Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video on X.

"Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation," he added.

In a statement on state media, the general staff of Iran's armed forces said any Israeli response would be met with "vast destruction" of the latter's infrastructure.

It also said it would target the regional assets of any Israeli ally that got involved.

Fears that Iran and the US could be drawn into a regional war have risen with Israel's growing assault on Lebanon in the past two weeks, including the start of a ground operation there on Monday, while its conflict in the Gaza Strip is a year old.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with his national security and economic advisers on Wednesday over the Middle East conflict and called for a swift but measured response to any impact on the country's energy supply, his office said.

Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, most in the past two weeks, Lebanese government statistics showed on Tuesday. 

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Poll: Republicans Are More Likely than Democrats to See Israel as a US Ally

Palestinians attend the funeral ceremony for members of the Al-Dera family following an Israeli air strike in Al-Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians attend the funeral ceremony for members of the Al-Dera family following an Israeli air strike in Al-Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
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Poll: Republicans Are More Likely than Democrats to See Israel as a US Ally

Palestinians attend the funeral ceremony for members of the Al-Dera family following an Israeli air strike in Al-Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians attend the funeral ceremony for members of the Al-Dera family following an Israeli air strike in Al-Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 01 October 2024. (EPA)

After a year of war between Israel and Hamas, US public opinion on the conflict remains polarized, a new survey by the Pearson Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds, with Democrats more likely to be critical of Israel, while Republicans remain more supportive.

There are a few points of relative consensus — about half of US adults, for example, say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility for the continuation of the war, while about one quarter says it has “some” responsibility and about 2 in 10 say it has “not much” responsibility or “none at all.”

But US adults remain divided on the extent to which the Israeli government is responsible for the conflict continuing. And the findings indicate that the past year of war hasn’t done much to widen or narrow the partisan gulf that existed early in the conflict.

Democrats remain more sympathetic toward the Palestinians than Republicans and more critical of Israel, while Republicans are more likely to sympathize with the Israelis and view Israel as a US ally that shares the United States' values and interests.

However, it’s unclear from this survey if public opinion will shift as the war in the Middle East expands beyond Gaza. It was conducted from Sept. 12 to 16, before Israel’s military significantly escalated its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and before Iran launched missiles at Israel on Tuesday. Hamas, based in Gaza, and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, are armed groups allied with Iran.

Americans largely don't blame the US government President Joe Biden has maintained crucial US military support to Israel throughout the Gaza war, while repeatedly trying — and failing — to broker a ceasefire. Americans are most likely to place “a lot” of blame on Hamas for the continuation of the war between Israel and the group, followed by the Israeli government, and the Iranian government and groups backed by Iran.

They place much less responsibility on their own country. Only about 1 in 10 Americans say the US government bears “a lot” of responsibility for the continuation of the war between Israel and Hamas, while about 4 in 10 say it bears “some” responsibility, and 45% say the US bears “not much” or no responsibility at all.

Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to say the US has “some” responsibility, but overall the partisan differences on this question are small.

Brian Grider, a 48-year-old Republican from Moscow, Ohio, isn't sure how the US could defuse the conflict.

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do,” he said. “It would be nice if we could and we might want to try, but is it going to work? Probably not.”

Republicans more likely than Democrats to see Israel as an ally

The year of fighting appears to have calcified the partisan divide on the war and the US relationship with Israel.

About half of Republicans view Israel as an ally of the US that shares its values and interests, while about half of Democrats think Israel is a partner that the US should cooperate with but that doesn't share American values and interests.

More than half of Democrats also say the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility for the continuation of the war, compared to about 4 in 10 Republicans.

Brian Becker, a 49-year-old Democrat in Colorado, says his views of the war shifted after hearing more on social media about Palestinians and Palestinian Americans who were harmed by the war.

“I didn’t feel like that was fair for them,” Becker said. “So that did start to change my mind a little bit, started to give that waver of support to Palestine,” he said. “Where before I probably would have been just, ‘Yeah, go Israel.’”

On the other hand, about half of Republicans say they sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians, while Democrats are more likely to say they sympathize with both groups equally.

Grider, the Ohio Republican, thinks Israel responded appropriately to the Oct. 7 attack, comparing it to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

“I definitely don't think Israel is doing too much in response to what happened to them,” he said.

Overall views of the war remain stable Views of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the US. role in mediating it, haven't shifted much over the course of the year.

Support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state rose slightly, from around 2 in 10 in August 2023 to about 3 in 10 now. (About half of Americans currently say they neither favor nor oppose an independent Palestinian state, and about 2 in 10 are opposed.) There was also a slight uptick in the share of Americans who think the US is too supportive of Israel.

But about 4 in 10 US adults continue to say the US is spending “too much” on military aid to Israel in the war, while a similar share say the US is spending “the right amount." About 1 in 10 say the US is spending “too little,” which is in line with an AP-NORC poll conducted in early 2024.

The mix of US opinions on the Gaza war reflects the complexity of a conflict where Americans may see bad actors and innocent victims on both sides, according to Paul Poast, a political scientist at the University of Chicago and a research affiliate of the Pearson Institute.

“This leads to people having very strong views on both sides, which, of course, we’ve seen,” Poast said. And it doesn’t, he added, make for “a consistent narrative of, ‘We’ve got to support Israel,' or 'We’ve got to support the Palestinians.’”

Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7 and took hostages, some of whom are still being held in Gaza. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians. Gaza health officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their death toll but say many of those killed are women and children.

Charles Jolivette, a 42-year-old Democrat in New Orleans who developed concerns about Israel’s offensive through discussions with friends and colleagues who have Palestinian heritage, has observed a kind of echo-chamber effect, where people on the different sides of the issue seem to only hear views that reflect their own beliefs.

“But I would love to have some more,” Jolivette said, referring to exchanges of view with people who see the conflict differently. And for "not only mainstream media, but the mainstream American populace, to have that ability to have these real conversations.”