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The escalation of violence between Israel and its Iran-backed proxies across the Middle East threatened to bring the combatants closer to a regional war.
Sept. 29, 2024, 6:04 p.m. ET
Israel’s military on Sunday attacked its enemies in two countries and Gaza, including with a long-distance airstrike in Yemen amid escalating violence between Israel and its Iranian-backed proxies across the Middle East, inching the combatants closer to regional war.
Israel’s show of military force reached from Lebanon, where Israeli forces targeted Hezbollah, to the province of Hodeidah in Yemen, where its warplanes flew more than a thousand miles to attack power plants and shipping infrastructure. At the same time, the military’s war against Hamas in Gaza continues, and movements by the Israeli army along its northern border over the weekend suggested preparations for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.
“The I.D.F. is determined to continue operating at any distance — near or far — against all threats to the citizens of the state of Israel,” the Israeli military said Sunday.
The strikes over the weekend came after a spate of attacks by Israel’s military and intelligence forces, including operations that turned pagers and walkie-talkies into bombs that killed or maimed Hezbollah militants, and a bombing on Friday that killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s longtime leader.
The operations were part of a broader strategy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, to create a new balance of power in the Mideast in which Israel’s status is unquestioned.
“Our foes and friends view Israel again for what it is: a strong, determined and powerful state,” he said.
