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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 Tours Florida’s Storm-Hit Streets as Milton Debris Piles Up

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 Tours Florida’s Storm-Hit Streets as Milton Debris Piles Up

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)

US President Joe Biden on Sunday surveyed the damage from Florida's Hurricane Milton, the second storm to batter the low-lying state in recent weeks as rising floodwaters, fuel shortages and power outages further impacted cleanup efforts.  

Milton, which led to at least 17 reported deaths, has added to piles of debris following Hurricane Helene, with electricity and fuel still unavailable in many areas.

Biden’s Marine One helicopter thundered along Florida's western coast from Tampa to St. Petersburg over a landscape of golf courses, waterfront skyscrapers.  

The aerial tour showed communities battered by the storm and offered a firsthand view of the shredded roof of Tampa Bay Rays' baseball stadium, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.  

On the ground, Biden passed entire neighborhoods in St. Pete Beach with debris piled on street corners next to felled palm trees and homes with their pastel-painted garage doors busted as the smell of moldy building materials filled the air.

Heaps of mattresses, siding, couches, microwave ovens, pillows and busted-up kitchen cabinets all lined the island's roads, some still covered in large patches of sand, as Biden walked through with emergency responders. One photo album still lay scattered in the street.

“Help,” one resident asked Biden in lettering on one pile of household debris.

Biden, touring the area along with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, will also meet with residents before making public remarks.

Flooding is expected to continue around the Tampa Bay and the Sanford area northeast of Orlando as river waters continue to rise, according to the National Weather Service's website.

More fuel distribution sites are scheduled to open on Sunday, according to the state's emergency operations center.

Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert said recovery was expected to take a long time as officials continued to restore power more widely and extend more services to barrier islands by late Monday

"It's still a mess," she told ABC News' "This Week" program. "People are coming together. Neighbors are helping neighbors. It's been heartening to see all of the outpouring of support and help that people have been offering."

Climate change has been linked to stronger and faster hurricanes, with the two recent back-to-back storms pummeling Florida raising questions of infrastructure resiliency even as many residents vow to stay put.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said he is unlikely to prevent people from rebuilding in vulnerable areas. While Milton was not as destructive as officials had initially forecast, analysts have estimated insured losses for between $30 billion and $60 billion.

Biden's administration has approved federal aid to help residents and local governments cover expenses but has said the Federal Emergency Management Agency would need additional funding from the US Congress even though it has enough now to meet immediate storm needs.

Biden, a Democrat, last week called on lawmakers, who are on recess until after the Nov. 5 election, to return to Washington to approve more FEMA money.  

"We need Congress to act swiftly to fund FEMA and specifically its Disaster Relief Fund because hurricane season is not over, and also seasons are less and less important now, given the effects of climate change," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News' "Face the Nation."

But Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday resisted White House and state lawmakers appeals to approve more disaster assistance, telling NBC News' "Meet the Press" program: "The states have to go and calculate and assess the need and then they submit that to Congress and that takes some time."  

Relief efforts have also been hampered by a trail of misinformation, including conspiracy theories about officials controlling the weather. Politics has also infiltrated recovery with just three weeks to go until the presidential election.