US and Israel discuss Iran plans as Hezbollah says it pushes Israelis back along Lebanon border

By James Mackenzie and Timour Azhari

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Wednesday its fighters had pushed back advancing Israeli forces in clashes along the border, including in a village where Israeli troops had been filmed hoisting an Israeli flag.

The ground clashes, which are spreading along Lebanon's mountainous frontier with Israel, took place with the Gaza war still raging and as the Israeli government prepares to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack last week.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel's plans in a call. The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's response to the strike, which Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's escalation in Lebanon, aimed at degrading Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The White House and Netanyahu's office both reported the phone call without giving any immediate details on what was discussed.

"Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising, they will not understand what happened and how it happened, they will see the results," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video published on Israeli media.

Lebanon's Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza are both parts of Iran's network of allied armed movements across the Middle East. Israeli assassinations of Hezbollah leaders have dealt a blow to Iran but the group has vowed to fight on.

Hezbollah said its fighters had fired several rocket salvoes at Israeli troops near the village of Labbouneh in the western part of the border area, close to the Mediterranean coast, and had managed to push them back.

Further east, it said it had attacked Israeli soldiers in the village of Maroun el-Ras and unleashed missile barrages at Israeli forces advancing towards the twin border villages of Mays al-Jabal and Mouhaybib.

Video footage posted on social media showed three Israeli soldiers raising their country's blue and white flag in Maroun el-Ras, the first time for decades they are known to have done so on Lebanese territory Israel occupied from 1982-2000. Reuters confirmed the location based on visible geographic features.

Amin Sherri, a Hezbollah politician visiting displaced people in schools in Beirut on Wednesday, told reporters that Israeli forces had not been able to achieve their military aims and the Israeli flag raised in the south was up only briefly.

Rocket sirens sounded constantly across northern Israel, including in the major port city of Haifa, following heavy fire from Lebanon. Israel's military said about 40 projectiles were launched in one barrage at Haifa, some of which were intercepted while others fell in the area.

Israeli ambulance workers said two people were killed in strikes on Kiryat Shmona near the border and at least six were wounded in Haifa.

Israel meanwhile launched airstrikes including at targets far from the border combat zone. The Lebanese health ministry said four people were killed and 10 wounded by a strike in the town of Wardaniyeh, north of Sidon along the coast.

ISRAEL'S OPTIONS

Some analysts say Israel is most likely to respond to Iran's Oct. 1 attack by targeting Iranian military installations, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like those used in the attack. It could also seek to destroy Iranian air defence systems and missile-launching facilities.

Washington has said it would not support a major attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Biden said on Thursday he would not negotiate in public when asked if he had urged Israel not to attack Iran's oil facilities, which could drive up oil prices.

Tehran has told Gulf Arab states it would be "unacceptable" if they allowed use of their airspace or military bases for attacks against Iran and warned that any such move would draw a response, a senior Iranian source has said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi state news agency said. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has had a raprochement with Iran in recent years but relations remain difficult. There were no immediate details of the discussions.

The outcome of Wednesday's U.S.-Israeli and Saudi-Iranian talks will shape the year-old conflict in Gaza and the more recent flare-up in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been launching rockets against Israel for a year.

Israel has said that troops from as many as four divisions have operated in Lebanon since the first announcement of the ground operation on Oct. 1. It has not confirmed that they have established a permanent presence there.

Its bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, most of them in the last two weeks, and forced 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has no choice but to strike Hezbollah so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to homes they fled under Hezbollah rocket fire.

At the port in Beirut, some 2,000 Turkish citizens and their family members were awaiting evacuation on Wednesday aboard two landing ships sent by Turkey.

"We cannot take this situation anymore," said Issa Malak, a Turkish-Lebanese dual citizen. "There is no future in Lebanon."

Burn victims from Israeli strikes are being treated at a specialised unit in Beirut's Geitaoui hospital, the only one of its kind in the country. Reuters journalists saw nurses gently change the gauze on patients, some of whom were wrapped neck down because of the severity of burns.

Mahmoud Dhaiwi, a Lebanese soldier, told Reuters he was off duty and heading to the beach when his car was hit by an Israeli strike. His whole body was burned.

(Additional reporting by Maya Gebeily, Parisa Hafezi, Andrew Mills, Maha El Dahan and Pesha Magid; writing by Michael Georgy, Peter Graff, Philippa Fletcher; editing by Christina Fincher, William Maclean, Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones)