Thursday Briefing: Israeli Troops Clashed with Hezbollah

Israel and Hezbollah said their troops were fighting at close range in southern Lebanon, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed a military response to Iran for firing ballistic missiles at Israel.

Hezbollah said that its fighters had clashed with Israeli soldiers in at least one Lebanese town, and that it had targeted an evacuated Israeli town with rockets. Israel said eight of its soldiers had been killed in the first day and a half of combat in Lebanon, a relatively high toll compared with the daily losses the military has taken in the war in Gaza. Here’s the latest, as well as a map of the invasion.

Several officials said Israel had yet to make a decision about how to respond to Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday. The exact nature of its response may not become clear until after Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which runs until sundown tomorrow. President Biden said yesterday that he would not support an attack by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites and that he believed Israel’s response had to be proportional.

Beirut dispatch: Hezbollah gave media outlets, including The Times, a tour of southern Beirut suburbs where it is the dominant power. Airstrikes targeting members of Hezbollah have brought the Dahiya neighborhoods to a standstill, its residents fleeing and businesses shuttering.