Mideast on Edge After Israel Bombs Lebanon to Thwart Attack
- Israel says it stopped a massive planned Hezbollah assault
- Talks aimed at reaching Gaza cease-fire were held in Cairo
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon on August 25.
Photographer: Kawnat Haju/AFP via Getty Images
Hours after 100 Israeli warplanes swooped over southern Lebanon, taking out thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers in what was called a pre-emptive strike, the Middle East braced for an expanded conflagration that could involve Iran and its allied militias.
The assault started at 5 a.m. local time and was based, Israeli officials said, on precise intelligence that Hezbollah was about to fire thousands of missiles at northern Israel as well as drones at a key intelligence center just north of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the killing of its commander in July.
