The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
Nasrallah vows to down Israeli UAVs flying over Lebanon
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vows to go after Israeli UAVs in Lebanese airspace in future, saying, “Enough. The Lebanese have the right to defend themselves, and we will defend. There is now a new operational space [for Hezbollah], and it’s Lebanon’s skies. When it comes to dealing with the UAVs, it will happen. I won’t specify when and how, but it will come.”
Nasrallah insists Sunday attack was successful, forced Israelis to flee border
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah takes credit for what he calls a successful operation in Sunday’s missile attack on IDF positions, despite the failure to cause Israeli casualties.
“Despite all the preparations and fake targets the enemy scattered along the border, we waited for our target and when it came, we hit it, without any doubt,” he says of the missile fire that struck an IDF vehicle and an army post at Avivim.
In a speech to mark a Shiite religious festival, he says Hezbollah will no longer think twice about attacking Israeli UAVs in Lebanon. “There are no more red lines,” he says.
He urges his followers not to view the Sunday attack as underwhelming, saying its importance was in the psychological effect it imposed on the Israelis.
“The entire border was evacuated, you couldn’t see a single soldier on the border, nor any of the tractors we saw for a time. Second, they evacuated all their forward command posts. They emptied entire bases, like Avivim, a complete evacuation. A reporter from one channel walked around there and showed how everything was empty, there was no one. Entire outposts were emptied, some of them deep inside [Israeli territory].”
He mocks Israel’s response: “Israel, which responds to every grenade or action, did everything it could to contain the incident, and most of the fire it directed [toward Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah attack] was at defensive targets, not offensive ones.”
He calls Sunday’s operation “a reflection of boldness, bravery, precision and responsibility.”
Amid growing speculation, UK PM Boris Johnson says he doesn’t want an election
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he does not want an election and has urged legislators not to undercut Britain’s negotiating position with the European Union.
Johnson says in a brief televised address that there are “no circumstances” under which he would accept a delay to Brexit, which is scheduled for October 31. He says a parliamentary move to limit his options and seek another Brexit delay would “chop the legs” out of Britain’s negotiating position.
The prime minister insists the prospects for a new deal with EU leaders are rising because EU officials know Britain has a clear vision of what it wants.
He speaks on the eve of a potential revolt in Parliament over his willingness to leave the EU even without a deal in place. Rebels seek a three-month delay.
Israel was ready to destroy Hezbollah missile program if soldier hit – report
An Israel Defense Forces source tells Channel 12 that Israel was prepared for a massive retaliation against Hezbollah’s precision missile system in Lebanon, which was only averted by the fact that no Israeli soldiers were hurt in yesterday’s attack.
“The fact that [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah missed and didn’t kill any Israeli saved Hezbollah from the destruction of its precision missile program,” the source says. “The planes were already in the air.”
According to Channel 12, IAF jets reportedly flew over the Mediterranean in preparation for the counter-strike.
Russia, Iran blame US for regional tensions
MOSCOW, Russia — Moscow and Tehran blame US policies for tensions in the Middle East while Russia says it welcomes French efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemns Washington’s latest actions in Syria as he visits Moscow for talks with Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov.
US forces over the weekend attacked jihadist leaders in northwestern Syria, in what a battlefield monitor called a missile strike that left at least 40 dead.
“Together with Russia and Turkey, Iran has ensured relative security and calm in Syria,” Zarif tells journalists after talks with Lavrov. “But the United States is creating a new unstable situation east of the Euphrates in Syria including through actions they’ve undertaken in Idlib.”
Moscow has said that the Americans hit the region “without advance notice to Russia or Turkey,” threatening a fragile ceasefire in the province of Idlib. Lavrov also accuses Washington of seeking to “provoke” Tehran after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal last year.
“Our American partners are openly seeking to provoke Iran with the support of some of their regional allies,” he said.
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