Israel continues raids in Lebanon while weighing response to Iran's missile attack

Fears of a regional war in the Middle East accelerated as Iran is bracing for an Israeli response to Tuesday’s ballistic missile barrage. In Lebanon, Israeli forces suffered significant losses as their ground invasion targeting Hezbollah militants pressed on. Leila Molana-Allen reports from Beirut and Nick Schifrin reports from Tel Aviv.

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Amna Nawaz: Welcome to the “News Hour.”

Fear of a regional war in the Middle East accelerated today. Iran is bracing for an Israeli response to yesterday’s unprecedented ballistic missile barrage against Israel.

Geoff Bennett: In Lebanon, Israeli forces have suffered significant losses as their ground invasion targeting Hezbollah militants pressed on today. Eight soldiers were killed in combat. And Israel continued its bombardment both of Lebanon and Gaza, killing dozens.

We have Nick Schifrin and Tel Aviv tonight and Leila Molana-Allen in Beirut.

And that’s where we start our coverage.

Leila Molana-Allen: War in the skies and now on land too. Israel’s first full-scale ground incursion into Lebanon for nearly two decades on Monday night met little resistance, today, a different story.

IDF soldiers crossed barely half-a-mile into Lebanese territory when they were ambushed by Hezbollah fighters.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter): I would like to send my condolences from the bottom of my heart to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon. We’re in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen.

Leila Molana-Allen: Hezbollah is keen to show it remains ready to fight, despite crippling attacks on its leadership and communications network.

The group has been preparing for this war for years and says most of its weapon stocks are still intact. In Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahiyeh today, amidst the shattered ruins of residential apartment blocks, a Hezbollah spokesman accused Israel of targeting civilians.

Mohammed Afif, Hezbollah Spokesperson (through interpreter): For us, the goal of this large-scale destruction of the southern suburb is destruction itself, killing, hatred, criminality, and repeating what happened in the Gaza Strip. All the civilian buildings that were bombed in the suburb in the last week are purely civilian buildings inhabited by Lebanese civilians.

Leila Molana-Allen: Nearly 2,000 people have now been killed here in just 10 days. Last night, as Iran launched its largest ever missile assault on Israel, the air was thick with foreboding in Beirut. Iran awaits Israel’s response, but the retaliation in Lebanon was swift.

As another day of devastating Israeli airstrikes leaves dozens more dead and many thousands more homeless, people here in Lebanon wait in fear to see what the next stage of this escalating regional conflict will bring.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Leila Molana-Allen on Lebanon’s southern coast.

Nick Schifrin: I’m Nick Schifrin in Israel, where today those Iranian ballistic missiles became tourist traps. In the southern Negev Desert, the fuselage of a missile that can carry a 1,600-pound payload caused no damage.

The U.S. official tells “PBS News Hour” Iran tried to destroy its targets, but largely missed and its missiles suffered a significant failure rate. One of the targets was the Tel Nof Air Base, where today Israel’s top officer delivered this threat.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Chief of Staff, Israeli Defense Forces (through interpreter): We will respond. We know how to locate important targets. We know how to strike with precision and power.

Nick Schifrin: What important means Israeli officials won’t say publicly. One official briefed on the matter told “PBS News Hour” that Israel could target Iran’s economy and not its nuclear sites, a target that President Biden today opposed.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: They have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.

Nick Schifrin: But U.S. officials believe the Israeli government feels less restrained since they killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In Gaza, residents feel there’s no restraint. And today marked the death of Jude, who just started his life. This war spares no one, not the daughter who today lost her mother, or the mother too shocked to realize she’d lost her son.

Gazan health authorities say, in the last day, 70 were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Israel says it struck multiple U.N. shelters used by Hamas as command-and-control. Another Gazan laid to rest today, 38-year-old Sameh Al-Asali, a resident of the occupied West Bank, and the only person known killed by Iran’s massive missile attack.

As for Israel’s response, U.S. officials tell me tonight they hope it’s calibrated to allow Israel a military reply, but one that falls short of inspiring Iran to launch another round of missile attacks.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Nick Schifrin in Tel Aviv.