Israel attacks Lebanon following a conversation with Trump on the “Iranian threat.”

Early Thursday morning, Israel attacked south Beirut again. This was just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald Trump talked about the “Iranian threat.”

The prime minister of Israel was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Trump on his re-election. He called it “history’s greatest comeback.”

Their office said in a statement that they “agreed to work together for Israel’s security” and “discussed the Iranian threat” on the phone on Wednesday.
The Israeli military soon launched its latest attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah’s main stronghold in south Beirut. AFP footage showed orange flashes and plumes of smoke over the heavily populated suburb.

Before the strikes, the Israeli army ordered people to leave four areas, including one near the international airport.
The health ministry of Lebanon said that Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday killed 40 people in the east of the country. Rescuers are still searching through the rubble for survivors.

“A number of attacks by the Israeli enemy on the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek” killed “40 people and hurt 53,” the ministry said in a statement.
Hezbollah said that the US election outcome would not affect the war. In September, the war got worse when the Israeli military turned its attention from Gaza to protecting its northern border with Lebanon.

Naim Qassem, the new leader of Hezbollah, said on TV after Trump’s victory, “We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight. They recorded the speech prior to Trump’s victory and played it afterwards.
He said, “The battlefield is what will stop this… war.”
Hezbollah named Qassem secretary-general last week. He warned that no place in Israel would be “off-limits.”

Hezbollah said on Wednesday that it had Fatah-110 missiles made in Iran. These missiles have a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles), and military expert Riad Kahwaji called them the group’s “most accurate.”
On Wednesday, the group claimed a number of attacks on Israel, including two on naval bases near the city of Haifa and two on bases near Tel Aviv, which is a major economic hub.

Because of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, Hezbollah started its low-intensity cross-border operation last year to help its ally.

From September 23, Israel increased its airstrikes on Hezbollah bases in south Lebanon, Beirut, and the eastern Bekaa Valley. A week later, it sent troops on the ground to help.
There have been fights in Lebanon for more than a year, and at least 3,050 people have died, the health ministry said Wednesday.

Stopping the fighting So far, many attempts to end the fighting in Gaza and the nearby country of Lebanon have failed. The government of US President Joe Biden has put a lot of pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, but Washington has kept its political and military support for Israel. A lot of people think that Trump’s return to the White House will be beneficial for Israel. Someone in east Jerusalem told AFP that all US presidents “support the State of Israel.” He asked to be known only by his nickname, Abu Mohammed. Nothing will change under Trump; things will only get worse.

Trump said he was Israel’s best friend during his campaign. He even advised Biden that Israel should “complete the task” against Hamas in Gaza. The mayor of a school in Ramallah, West Bank, said, “Trump’s return to power… will lead us to hell, and there will be a greater and more difficult escalation.”
A recent poll by Israel’s Channel 12 News found that 66 percent of Israelis wanted Trump to win.

Analysts stated that Netanyahu also desired Trump’s return due to their long-standing friendship and Trump’s tough stance on Iran.

During his first term in office, Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. He also accepted Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helped normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states through the so-called Abrahamic Accords.

But some experts said it was too early to guess what Trump thought about “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”
“It’s not always clear that he would just stand aside while Israel continues to formally take over the West Bank,” said Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group. Peace Chances in Trump’s US Egypt also praised Trump. Egypt was the initial Arab nation to ink a peace agreement with Israel, and it was among the nations attempting to initiate peace negotiations in Gaza, which have encountered obstacles.

A phone call between Trump and El-Sisi’s government said that Cairo would work with him to “promote stability, peace, and development in the Middle East.” Some people in Gaza held out hope that the war would end, even though it had forced most of the people to leave their homes, caused widespread hunger and death, and destroyed hospitals.

“There’s nothing left for us,” said 60-year-old Mamdouh Al-Jadba, who had to relocate from Jabalia to Gaza City. We want peace.”

The UN said on Wednesday that its polio vaccination program in Gaza was over. More than 500,000 children received vaccinations despite the war.

An AFP count of Israeli government numbers shows that the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which started the war, killed 1,206 people, most of them citizens. Israel’s response has killed 43,391 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry, which Hamas runs and the UN trusts.