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NBC: US Officials Believe Israel Will Target Military and Energy Sites in Iran

FILE PHOTO: People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Iranian Revolution Khomeini and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, October 7, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Iranian Revolution Khomeini and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, October 7, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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NBC: US Officials Believe Israel Will Target Military and Energy Sites in Iran

FILE PHOTO: People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Iranian Revolution Khomeini and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, October 7, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Iranian Revolution Khomeini and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, October 7, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

US officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to Iran's attack this month to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported on Saturday.
The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in a year of war as Israel battles Iran-backed groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on Oct. 1, which was launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, according to Reuters.
There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, citing unnamed US officials and adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.
US and Israeli officials said a response could come during the current Yom Kippur holiday, according to the report.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants erupted a year ago when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel at the start of the Gaza war, and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.
Hezbollah said on Sunday it was fighting Israeli forces trying to infiltrate Ramya village in southern Lebanon.
Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle "terrorist infrastructure".
"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, including terrorist cells, launchers, anti-tank missile posts, and terrorist infrastructure sites," it said.
Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.
UN PEACEKEEPERS
Israel has intensified its military operations in recent weeks, bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders, and sending ground troops across the border.
Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.
Israel's expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government, which says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but includes scores of women and children.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, expressed "deep concern" about reports that Israeli forces had fired on UN peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.
Five peacekeepers have been injured in three separate incidents since Thursday, the peacekeeping mission UNIFIL has said.
The fighting in the region which includes all of Tehran's allied militant groups -- Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq -- has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into a full-scale conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement on Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones as part of its support of the Palestinian people and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.
The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza, aimed at eliminating the militant group Hamas, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave. 

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Biden Will Survey Hurricane Milton Damage in Florida, Harris Attends Church in North Carolina

Homes destroyed by Hurricane Milton are seen in Grove City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP)
Homes destroyed by Hurricane Milton are seen in Grove City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Biden Will Survey Hurricane Milton Damage in Florida, Harris Attends Church in North Carolina

Homes destroyed by Hurricane Milton are seen in Grove City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP)
Homes destroyed by Hurricane Milton are seen in Grove City, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP)

President Joe Biden on Sunday will survey the devastation inflicted on Florida's Gulf Coast by Hurricane Milton as he urges Congress to approve additional emergency disaster funding. Vice President Kamala Harris will spend a second day in North Carolina, hard-hit by Hurricane Helene, to attend a Black church and hold a campaign rally.

Biden's visit to Florida offers him another opportunity to press Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to get lawmakers to provide more funding before the Nov. 5 election. Johnson has said the issue will be dealt with after the election.

“I think Speaker Johnson is going to get the message that he’s got to step up, particularly for small businesses,” Biden told reporters as he and Harris met with aides on Friday to discuss the federal response to hurricanes Milton and Helene. Biden and Johnson have yet to discuss the matter directly.

In Florida, Biden was set to announce $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in areas affected by the hurricanes to improve the resilience of the region’s electric grid, the White House said. The funding includes $94 million for two projects in Florida: $47 million for Gainesville Regional Utilities and $47 million for Switched Source to partner with Florida Power and Light.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, visited Raleigh on Saturday to meet with Black elected and religious leaders and help volunteers package personal care items for delivery to victims of Helene in the western part of the state.

The vice president was spending Sunday in Greenville, with plans to speak during a church service as part of her campaign's “Souls to the Polls” effort to help turn out Black churchgoers before Election Day. She was also scheduled to hold a rally to talk about her economic plans and highlight Thursday's start of early voting in the state, her campaign said.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will spend the coming week campaigning in the competitive states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, according to a Harris campaign official who asked for anonymity to share details not yet made public.

With less than four weeks to go before Election Day, the hurricanes have added another dimension to the closely contested presidential race.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the Biden administration’s storm response had been lacking, particularly in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. And Biden and Harris have hammered Trump for promoting falsehoods about the federal response.

Trump made a series of false claims after Helene struck in late September, including incorrectly saying that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.

Biden said Trump was “not singularly" to blame for the spread of false claims in recent weeks but that he has the "biggest mouth.”

The president is pressing for swift action by Congress to make sure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. He said Friday that Milton alone had caused an estimated $50 billion in damages.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that FEMA will be able to meet “immediate needs” caused by the two storms. But he warned in the aftermath of Helene that the agency does not have enough funding to make it through the hurricane season.

But Johnson has pushed back, saying the agencies have enough money for the time being and that lawmakers will address the funding issue during the lame-duck session after the election.

Also percolating in the background are tensions between Harris and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. As Helene barreled toward Florida last week, the Democratic vice president and Republican governor traded accusations that the other was trying to politicize the federal storm response.

Harris' office last week suggested that DeSantis was dodging her phone calls. DeSantis responded that he was unaware she had called and grumbled that she hadn't been involved in the federal government's response before she became the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden, for his part, said he hoped to see DeSantis on Sunday, if the governor's schedule permitted.

“He’s been very cooperative,” Biden said about DeSantis. He added, “We got on very, very well.”

DeSantis said Saturday that he had no details about the president's visit.

Biden was scheduled to survey damage during an aerial tour between Tampa and St. Pete Beach, where he will be briefed on the storm by federal, state and local officials. He'll also meet residents and first responders.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of residents remain without power.

Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for widespread evacuations. The still-fresh devastation wrought by Helene just two weeks earlier probably helped compel many people to flee.