The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
IDF: Sirens triggered in northern border town were false alarms
The IDF says that the sirens triggered moments ago in the northern border town of Arab al-Aramshe were false alarms.
Sirens triggered in northern border town, day into ceasefire; no confirmation on what set it off
Rocket sirens have been triggered in the northern border town of Arab al-Aramshe.
There is no immediate confirmation of what set off the alert nearly 24 hours into the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Biden urged PM to help secure hostage deal in call ahead of Lebanon ceasefire announcement
US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their call yesterday ahead of the public announcement of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that now was the time to focus on securing a hostage deal, Axios reports.
Biden said as much in his speech announcing the Lebanon deal shortly after the call.
“We have an opportunity now. Let’s get the hostages,” Biden told Netanyahu, according to US officials who spoke to Axios and who said the prime minister responded positively and said he wanted to try.
“What the president refuses to say is ‘The hostages should stay in tunnels or in some other horrible condition that they’re in for three more months because the United States has a transition period,” US special envoy Amos Hochstein told Jewish American community leaders during a briefing earlier today.
Syrian rebels launch attack against army in Aleppo province
Syrian rebels in the last opposition enclave in northern Syria have launched a wide-scale military operation against the Syrian army and seized territory in the first such advance in years, army and rebel sources say.
The rebel offensive has overrun at least 10 areas under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in northwestern Aleppo province, says a source in the operations room run by a coalition of insurgent groups led by the militant Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The land incursion is the first such territorial advance since March 2020 when Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkey, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire that led to military action halting in Syria’s last major rebel stronghold in the country’s northwest.
Rebels advanced almost 10 km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Aleppo city and a few kilometres away from Nubl and Zahra, two Shi’ite towns where Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong militia presence, an army source says.
They have attacked Al-Nayrab airport east of Aleppo, where pro-Iranian militias have outposts.
Rebels say the campaign was in response to stepped-up strikes in recent weeks against civilians by the Russian and Syrian air force on areas in southern Idlib, and to preempt any attacks by the Syrian army, which was building up troops near front lines with rebels.
The army pounded areas near rebel-held Idlib city and the cities of Ariha and Sarmada along with other areas in southern Idlib province, according to an army source.
Source familiar with Hezbollah ops says up to 4,000 fighters may have been killed over past year
BEIRUT — With the bodies of its fighters still strewn on the battlefield, Hezbollah must bury its dead and provide succor to its supporters who bore the brunt of Israel’s offensive, as the first steps on a long and costly road to recovery, four senior officials say.
Hezbollah believes the number of its fighters killed during 14 months of hostilities could reach several thousand, with the vast majority killed since Israel went on the offensive in September, three sources familiar with its operations say, citing previously unreported internal estimates.
One source says the Iran-backed terror group may have lost up to 4,000 people — well over 10 times the number killed in its month-long 2006 war with Israel. So far, Lebanese authorities have said some 3,800 people were killed in the current hostilities, without distinguishing fighters from civilians.
The IDF has estimated that Israeli forces killed some 3,000 Hezbollah operatives.
Defense minister defends continued closure of northern schools amid truce: ‘A cautionary step’
Defense Minister Israel Katz defends his move to not allow schools to reopen in northern border towns tomorrow, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“The decision of the defense establishment to not remove the restrictions and not return the Galilee and northern communities to normalcy tomorrow is a step of necessary caution and a clear message regarding Israel’s determination to enforce the agreement,” Katz says in a statement issued by his office.
“If Hezbollah’s attempts to violate the agreement continue and the Lebanese government does not fulfill its obligations, Israel is prepared to respond strongly. We will not give up and we will not compromise on the safety of the residents of the north,” Katz adds.
According to Army Radio, the chiefs of the IDF Northern Command and Home Front Command, both recommended to Katz to lift the restrictions in northern Israel.
Katz ruled against it, and the Home Front Command did not change the current guidelines, under which schools are closed in the Golan Heights and northern frontier communities.