📷 Two Israeli airstrikes in Odaiseh and Kfarkila villages on the Lebanese border.

📷 And additional attacks on Kafrkila's
Uzziya and Nahhas mountains.

📹 Closeup to one of the airstrikes in Kfarkila.

Al-Manar sent Ali Shoaib closer to the border area recently to provide better closeup of the events.

⚠️ The Biden administration last week put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition to Israel

Why it matters: It is the first time since the Oct. 7 attack that the U.S. has stopped a weapons shipment intended for the Israeli military.

The incident raised serious concerns inside the Israeli government and sent officials scrambling to understand why the shipment was held, Israeli officials said.

📑 Hezbullah takes credit for the 5th attack in retaliation to the Israeli massacre in Mays al-Jabal, announce

🔻 Damaging a house in Shtula
🔻 Damaging a house in Avivim
🔻 Attacking Kfar Yuval settlement.

In the first of these attacks, at least 10 confirmed impacts in Qiryat Shmona and the injury of two. Rest of the attacks caused confirmed limited material damage.

Two other attacks took place, on Samaqa and Al-Malkiah base, as part of the daily engagement.

📷 The Israeli army carried 2 new airstrikes on Aita al-Shaab and one in Hula, raising the number of airstrikea today to 12.

⚠️ Hezbullah takes credit for its 7th attack in retaliation to the Israeli murder of a Lebanese family of 4 in Mays Al-Jabal.

The latest attack targeted Margaliot settlement. This is the highest number of attacks per retaliation in record.

https://t.me/LebUpdate/39314

📑 Three civilians were lightly injured in the Israeli attack on Al-Safri area in Baalbek, near Al-Nabi sheet village. [About two hours ago]

The troubled Israeli army in south Lebanon, who failed to foil 10 rocket and ATGM attacks decided to attack north.

The building was empty. No casualties inside.

📑 Very important day in Lebanon and Gaza. Updates to be done tonight to cover the whole day.

Thanks for understanding.

📹 In a recap of yesterday's events, the Israeli airstrike at dawn in Baalbek destroyed a 3-story building part of which is used as a local factory for tissue papers.

Civilian property and houses near the area were severely damaged.

🗣️ In response to the attack, Hezbullah carried a rocket barrage towards Nafa' military base in the southern Golan Heights with dozens of rockets.

✈️ It was followed by an attack using suicide drones on an Israeli army staging ground in Metulla.

Vehicles were damaged, and at least two soldiers from the commando units were seriously wounded. Possible deaths.

📹 During the drone attack, the Israeli army scrambled jets and flew at extreme low altitude over south Lebanon in an attempt to intercept the drones.

The attempts failed.

📹 At least two Israeli jets were patrolling the Khiyam plain, at low altitudes and in range of MANPADS.

Flairs for deployed for safety.

📑 But with the failure to intercept the drones and the casualties, the Israeli army carried a very violent wave of airstrikes on Al-Tuffah district.

About 15 airstrikes targeted the hills and valleys of the district, in the vicinity of Aramta and Luwayzeh.

Those valleys and hills sit in strategic areas and possibly hold assets. Different types of smokes were noticed.

📷 An additional attack was carried in Serbeen village and Aita al-Shaab.

No casualties in either.

📹 And to conclude today's events in Lebanon, which witnessed a series of escalations and casualties

Hezbullah released footage of their attack yesterday on the settlement of Qiryat Shmona.

About 40 x 122mm Grad rockets and 21xFalaq-1 heavy rockets were fired in one of the 7 responses to the Israeli murder of a Lebanese family or 4.

Noticeable in this footage is:
- A Falaq launcher this big
- The use of launchers in close distance to the border, in open, and successfully engaging and then saving it from the Israeli attack
- Being able to monitor Qiryat Shmona despite the Israeli destruction of all vantage and border observation points.

⚠️ As for the situation in Gaza, the first step to pave the invasion of Rafah started with the order to evacuate given to the south most part of the province.

The area hosts several hundreds of thousands, and hosts the only official border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

If the Israeli army takes control of it, they effectively will control all official border crossings.

Control will last until the Israeli army withdraws by the end of this war, or long term resistance if they annex this area.

📑 A White House National Security Council spokesperson tells Israeli journalist Barak Ravid that:

“We continue to believe that a hostage deal is the best way to preserve the lives of the hostages, and avoid an invasion of Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering. Those talks are ongoing now.”

🚫 However, during the Israeli attacks yesterday on Rafah and the threat of invasion, Hamas announced they halted their participation. Talks have collapsed for now.

The Israeli orders to evacuate serve two very important purposes:
1- A bluff to put pressure on Hamas to accept any deal to "buy time" for itself

2- Satisfy U.S. demands to minimise casualties when an operation takes place there.

Achieving the evacuation with or without an attack now serves a need.

🇺🇲🇮🇱 President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone for 30 minutes today, discussing hostage deal negotiations and Israel's preparations for a ground invasion of Rafah.

Biden is seeking to salvage the long-stalled Israel-Hamas hostage deal and avoid a massive Israeli military operation in Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are taking shelter.

A U.S. official said Biden asked Netanyahu to immediately reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, which was shut down on Sunday after a Hamas attack that killed four soldiers. The target was an army staging ground.

Update: Possible rationing decision, not a rebuff of Israel

The Axios article doesn’t explicitly state that ammunition is being withheld due to frustration with Israel.

Actually, an Israeli official (cited by the Times of Israel) commented: “Even now, a continued series of defense shipments are being sent from the US to Israel. It’s possible that one shipment or another is delayed, but the flow continues and we’re not aware of a policy decision to stop it.”

Defense analyst Dan Caldwell writes that a “plausible reason” for the delay is that “the ammo is going to Ukraine instead”.

“By prioritizing Ukraine over Israel for the next shipment, the Biden administration kills two birds with one stone: First, it helps to prevent a Ukrainian collapse, [then] it can spin to its base what is really a rationing decision as ‘standing up to Netanyahu’, turning neocon lemons into progressive lemonade”, assesses the ex-COO of PayPal and Yammer founder David Sacks.