JERUSALEM: Israel’s army chief said Wednesday that his troops could destroy any village inside Lebanon, ramping up rhetoric against the Hezbollah militant group based across the border.
The Israeli military has been exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah — a key ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas — almost every day since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7.
Israel’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi told a gathering of soldiers in Gaza that their actions in the besieged Palestinian territory had convinced him that they could take the fight into Lebanese territory if needed.
“We’ve fought in Gaza, so we know how to do it in Lebanon if we have to,” he said, according to a statement from the Israeli army.
“After what you did (in Gaza), there is not a village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy.”
Since the start of the border escalation, 188 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 141 Hezbollah members and more than 20 civilians, among them three journalists, according to a tally compiled by AFP.
The Israeli army says 14 Israelis have been killed, including nine soldiers.
While Hezbollah says it is targeting Israeli military sites in support of Gaza, the Israeli army says its air and artillery strikes are aimed at disrupting the Shiite group’s infrastructure and the movements of its fighters around the border.
No Lebanon village beyond Israel’s reach, says army chief
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No Lebanon village beyond Israel’s reach, says army chief
- 14 Israelis have been killed, including nine soldiers in border escalation
US makes plans to reopen embassy in Syria after 14 years
- The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year
- Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to proceed with planning for a potential re-opening of the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was shuttered in 2012 during the country’s civil war.
A notice to congressional committees earlier this month, which was obtained by The Associated Press, informed lawmakers of the State Department’s “intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume embassy operations in Syria.”
The Feb. 10 notification said that spending on the plans would begin in 15 days, or next week, although there was no timeline offered for when they would be complete or when US personnel might return to Damascus on a full-time basis.
The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year, shortly after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, and it has been a priority for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack.
Barrack has pushed for a deep rapprochement with Syria and its new leadership under former rebel Ahmad Al-Sharaa and has successfully advocated for the lifting of US sanctions and a reintegration of Syria into the regional and international communities.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president. “He’s a rough guy. He’s not a choir boy. A choir boy couldn’t do it,” Trump said. “But Syria’s coming together.”
Last May, Barrack visited Damascus and raised the US flag at the embassy compound, although the embassy was not yet re-opened.
The same day the congressional notification was sent, Barrack lauded Syria’s decision to participate in the coalition that is combating the Daesh militant group, even as the US military has withdrawn from a small, but important, base in the southeast and there remain significant issues between the government and the Kurdish minority.
“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-Daesh Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Barrack said.
The embassy re-opening plans are classified and the State Department declined to comment on details beyond confirming that the congressional notification was sent.
However, the department has taken a similar “phased” approach in its plans to re-open the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the US military operation that ousted former President Nicolás Maduro in January, with the deployment of temporary staffers who would live in and work out of interim facilities.
