Israeli intelligence: Hezbollah expected to attack in next 48 hours

(Washington, D.C.) — Israel forces are bracing for new Hezbollah attacks within hours.

• Israel’s i24 News reports that “Israeli security sources estimate Hezbollah will launch a new attack on the Jewish state, possibly within the next 48 hours,” citing Hebrew language news sources. “The assessment is that if the terrorist group would respond to the killing of its operative Ali Kamel Mohsen in Damascus last week, it would likely do so until Thursday.”
• The Jerusalem Post reports that “following a situational assessment, advanced weapons systems, powerful intelligence-gathering systems and specialized units have been deployed to the North,” citing the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
• The Times of Israel reports that “touring the northern border area on Tuesday, a day after the IDF said it thwarted a Hezbollah attack there, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and its Iranian patron against testing Israel.”
• The Associated Press (via Ynet) reports that “The leader of a major Christian [political] group in Lebanon on Tuesday blamed the Hezbollah terror group and its local allies led by President Michel Aoun for the rapidly deteriorating economy and worsening relations with neighboring Arab countries, saying the only solution is for them to leave power. Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, told The Associated Press that Monday’s military activity along the border with Israel was a clear indication the current Lebanese government, which Hezbollah supports, doesn’t have sovereignty in the south, where thousands of UN peacekeepers are based.”

• Bloomberg News reports, “Lebanon’s Economic Crisis Is Spinning Out of Control, Fast,” noting “the country’s pound has lost nearly 60% of its value on the black market in the past month, threatening to suck the economy into a hyper-inflation spiral. Food prices are rising so fast that the army took meat off its menus last week. The state-controlled price of a bag of flat-bread was raised by a third.”
• Al-Arabiya reports that “the patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronite Church Beshara Al-Rai joined a growing roster of Lebanese leaders who think that the main culprit behind the country’s free-falling economy is Hezbollah and its endless wars. In a visit to President Michel Aoun, Al-Rai called for restoring regional neutrality, a policy the country used in the past, during which Lebanon saw its ‘golden years’ between 1949 and 1969. Al-Rai also said that national defense should be the job of the Lebanese Army alone. In a follow-up statement, Al-Rai said that Lebanon used to be ‘the hospital of the Arabs, the hotel of the Arabs, the tourism of the Arabs,’ and that it was Lebanon’s neutrality that allowed it to play such roles.”