U.S. Embassy in Beirut Denies Reports of Evacuation, Israel Says ‘No Security Incident In the North’
(AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Reports of an incursion into northern Israel by the Lebanese, Iran-linked terrorist group Hezbollah using drones and paragliders were in error, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Such an attack would have opened up a second front in the war being waged against Israel by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Homefront Command initially issued an alert to northern residents to shelter at home, lock doors and enter their safe rooms — warning of possible “infiltrators” from Lebanon. But the IDF has now confirmed that “as of now fear of intrusion has been ruled out.”
Furthermore, an IDF spokesperson told Reuters that the alert, which went out across the north of the country “may have been a malfunction.”
A number of sources, including OSINTdefender, an open-source war monitor, had reported that drones and paragliders may have crossed into Israel from Lebanon.
Aircraft Intrusions are still being Detected across Northern Israel as Hezbollah appears to have Joined the War against Israel. pic.twitter.com/7tTHK2N7LE
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 11, 2023
The Situation in Northern Israel is Extremely Unclear right now, there were definitely Drones which crossed the Border from Lebanon although the claims made by Officials regarding Paragliders may possibly be False.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 11, 2023
“BREAKING — #Hezbollah appears to have opened a new, northern front in the war with #Israel. Local reports speak of 10-15 drones & possibly also paragliders, with armed fighters aboard. Sirens active for hostile aircrafts & missiles,” declared Charles Lister, the director of the Middle East Institute Syria program.
“Israel-hamas war just expanded to Lebanon,” observed Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer matter-of-factly.
israel-hamas war just expanded to lebanon
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 11, 2023
Bremmer also reported that the U.S. is evacuating its embassy in Beirut and instructing all Americans in Lebanon to leave the country.
us government announces immediate evacuation of embassy in beirut, tells all americans to leave lebanon.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 11, 2023
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut quickly clarified, however, it had in fact not been evacuated. “The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has not evacuated and is open and operating normally. Reports saying otherwise are false,” read a statement on X.
The official account of the Israel Defense Forces, meanwhile, confirmed only that “A report was received regarding a suspected infiltration from Lebanon into Israeli airspace.”
To date, the conflict in and around Israel has been mostly confined to the southern portion of the country and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have clashed with the terrorist organization Hamas, although the Lebanese terrorists have been firing rockets into northern Israel.
The entrance of Hezbollah into the war would be expected to greatly increase the number of casualties in the days to come, and potentially lead to an even broader regional conflict.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify the IDF statement on the security situation in the north and that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut has not been evacuated, according to the embassy’s official statement. We regret the error.
