President Biden will meet with his national security team in the Situation Room on Monday ahead of an anticipated Iranian attack on Israel.
The meeting came a day after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with his counterpart in Israel on Sunday to reiterate U.S. support for the Jewish state as tensions rise with Iran and its proxies, threatening a broader regional war after 10 months of fighting Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed force posture measures the U.S. Department of Defense is taking to bolster the protection of U.S. forces in the region, support the defense of Israel, and deter and reduce broader tensions in the region, according to the Pentagon report.
A map showing US Navy assets stationed in the Middle East. (Fox News)
That meeting came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies.
Tensions in the region are already at an all-time high following the assassination last week of a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and the top political leader of Hamas in Iran. Iran and its allies have blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Hamas said it has begun talks to elect a new leader.
Israel prepares for attack on Iran amid warnings that regime is close to having a nuclear weapon: 'disconcerting'
Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for any scenario. Jordan's foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts: “We want the escalation to end,” Ayman Safadi said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told his counterparts on Sunday that Iran and Hezbollah could attack Israel as early as Monday, according to Axios.
Smoke rises after an attack in an area of Lebanon near the Israel-Lebanon border in the Galilee region, as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Sunday, August 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday to coordinate preparations for the anticipated attack, according to the Times of Israel.
A worker walks through rubble as a backhoe removes debris from a building that was damaged by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday night in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP/Hussein Malla)
In Israel, some prepared bomb shelters and recalled Iran's unprecedented direct military strike in April following an alleged Israeli attack that killed two Iranian generals. Israel said nearly all of the drones and ballistic and cruise missiles were intercepted.
“For years, Iran has been arming and funding terrorist organizations across the Middle East, including smuggling explosives into Israeli territory for terrorist attacks against civilians,” IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement. “The IDF and the ISA have already thwarted numerous attacks in which Claymore-type explosives were smuggled into the country’s territory. We are determined to continue to act against Iranian terrorism wherever it occurs.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostage. The brutal Israeli retaliation has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Heavy airstrikes and ground operations have caused widespread destruction and displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people.
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The militant group Hezbollah and Israel have continued to exchange fire along the border with Lebanon since the war began, with the intensity of the clashes increasing in recent months. Hezbollah said it aims to relieve pressure on Hamas, another Iran-backed ally.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
