Israeli ministers, meeting in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time, reached an agreement on an operational strategy for a “limited” invasion into Lebanon. However, tensions were high as officials reportedly expressed frustration over the operation being leaked to the media hours before the meeting even took place.
An anonymous U.S. security official confirmed to and other outlets on Monday morning that a “limited” invasion into Lebanon was imminent. When questioned by reporters later, President Biden seemed to confirm these claims, saying, “I’m more aware than you might know.”
But when asked about his comfort level with the operational plans, he stated, “I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now.”
Similarly, during a U.S. State Department briefing later in the day, spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, “They have been informing us about a number of operations.”
“They have, at this time, told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But we’re in continuous conversations with them about it,” he added.
It is unclear if Miller was referring to future operations or ongoing operations as reports emerged earlier on Monday suggesting that Israeli special forces had been conducting cross-border raids for months.
Digital could not verify which Israeli ministers were frustrated or specifically who in the U.S. their anger was directed towards.
But according to local media outlet YNET News, Israeli ministers were not only upset with U.S. officials.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were also a source of frustration after an IDF spokesperson reportedly referenced the operation before the ministerial debate. Local reporting on the operation appears to have been updated following requests by IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, who urged outlets not to report on “rumors.”
“In recent hours there have been many reports and rumors about IDF activity on the Lebanese border. We ask that no reports be circulated about the activities of the forces,” Hagari said on X ahead of the ministerial meeting.
“Stick to the official reports only and do not spread irresponsible rumors,” he added.
However, following the meeting, the confirmed that the IDF had begun “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.”
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the IDF added.
Sources told earlier on Monday that the operation was intended to be “limited” in scope and would be quicker than the 2006 operation Israel conducted in Lebanon, which lasted 34 days and resulted in 1,191 deaths and 4,409 injuries, a third of which were women and children. reported that 43 civilians were killed and 997 were injured during the 2006 operation.
Axios previously reported that Israel did not give the U.S. advance notice of the exploding beepers operation, stating that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as the pagers started to explode in Lebanon. Following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters, “The United States was not involved in Israel’s operation,” noting there was “no advance warning” from the Israelis.
The State Department did not immediately respond to Digital’s request for comment.