Hezbollah preparing to strike Israel independently of Iran, sources say

CNN
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Hezbollah increasingly appears to be able to strike Israel independently of what Iran might do, two sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

The Lebanon-based militant group is moving faster than Iran in its planning and is looking to strike Israel in the coming days, one source said. Meanwhile, Iran appears to still be working out how to respond, multiple officials told CNN. A US military official told CNN that Iran has made some, but not all, of the preparations the US would expect to see ahead of a major attack on Israel.

But given Lebanon’s proximity to Israel as its immediate neighbor to the north, Hezbollah could act without warning, according to the second source familiar with the intelligence — which is not the case with Iran.

It’s not clear how or whether Iran and Hezbollah, the country’s most powerful proxies, are coordinating on a potential attack at this point, and there is a sense among some officials that the two may not be fully aligned on how to proceed, the person added.

The imminent attacks would come in response to Israel’s killing last week of Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in Lebanon. The following day, Israel is widely believed to have assassinated Hamas’s political leader in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Since then, the world has been closely watching what is happening in the region. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday at the level of foreign ministers to address the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, resulted in the drafting of a final statement “condemning Israel’s actions” and affirming solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

The statement’s most prominent statement was condemnation of the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader and former Palestinian prime minister, in Tehran. The OIC held Israel responsible for this act, describing it as a “heinous crime and a violation of international law and the UN Charter.” The organization warned that such actions by Israel “undermine” regional security and stability.

This week, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a series of phone calls with counterparts across the Middle East, each with multiple calls to the leaders and foreign ministers of Jordan, Qatar, and Egypt to exchange calming messages.

CNN’s Nick Robertson, Iyad Kurdi and Anne-Claire Stapleton contributed to this report.