Ministers in Israel’s Political-Security Cabinet in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time agreed on an operational strategy for Israel’s “limited” invasion into Lebanon, but tensions were high after officials were reportedly frustrated that the news of the operation had been leaked hours before they even met.  

An unnamed U.S. security official confirmed to Fox News and other outlets Monday morning that a “limited” invasion into Lebanon was imminent. And when questioned by reporters on it later, President Biden appeared to confirm the claims and said, “I’m more aware than you might know.”

But when asked if he was comfortable with the operational plans, he said, “I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now.”

ISRAEL LAUNCHES LIMITED GROUND OPERATIONS IN LEBANON AS WAR AGAINST HEZBOLLAH, TERRORIST GROUPS CONTINUE

Similarly, during a U.S. State Department briefing later in the day, spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, “They have been informing us about a number of operations.” 

“They have, at this time, told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But we’re in continuous conversations with them about it,” he added.

It is unclear if Miller was speaking about future operations or ongoing operations as reports surfaced earlier on Monday suggesting that Israeli special forces had been engaging in cross-border raids for months.

President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he departs the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington after speaking about the federal response efforts for Hurricane Helene, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Fox News Digital could not confirm which Israeli ministers were frustrated and specifically who in the U.S. their ire was directed at. 

But it wasn’t only U.S. officials the Israeli ministers were reportedly frustrated with, according to local media outlet YNET News.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were also a source of exasperation after a spokesperson for the IDF reportedly referenced the operation ahead of the minister’s debate, though local reporting appeared to have been updated following requests by IDF spokesman Rear Adm.  Daniel Hagari, who called on outlets not to report on “rumors.”

Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, October 1, 2024.  (REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

ISRAEL’S GROUND INVASION INTO LEBANON IMMINENT AS CABINET APPROVES NEXT PHASE OF THE WAR

“In recent hours there have been many reports and rumors about IDF activity on the Lebanese border. We ask that no reports be circulated about the activities of the forces,” Hagari said on X ahead of the ministerial meeting. 

“Stick to the official reports only and do not spread irresponsible rumors,” he added. 

An IDF tank fires during exercises close to the Lebanese border, Sept 30, 2024 (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

However, following the meeting, the IDF released a statement confirming that the IDF had begun “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.”

“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the IDF added. 

Israeli shelling hit an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.  (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Sources told Fox News earlier on Monday that the operation was set to be “limited” in scope and would be quicker than the 2006 operation Israel conducted in Lebanon, which lasted 34 days and saw some 1,191 deaths and 4,409 injured, a third of which were women and children. Israel also reported that 43 civilians were killed and 997 were injured.

Axios previously reported that Israel did not give the U.S. advance notice on the exploding beepers operation, reporting, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as the pagers started to explode in Lebanon. Following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters, “The United States was not involved in Israel’s operation,” noting there was “no advance warning” from the Israelis.

The State Department did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

As the war enters its 948th day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

Fighting

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a more than two-and-a-half-hour meeting with his top military commanders, said that the situation on the front line of the war was “very, very difficult”. Zelenksyy said Ukraine’s forces needed to act quickly and decisively in the coming weeks to achieve their objectives.
• Russia said its forces captured the village of Nelipivka on the eastern front line. It had a population of just under 1,000 people before the conflict began in 2022, according to official statistics. Ukraine’s General Staff made no acknowledgement of the village changing hands, but said that Russian forces had launched 10 attacks in and around it.
• Russia launched several waves of drones targeting Kyiv in the early hours of Monday. Ukraine’s military said the drones were either destroyed by defence systems or neutralised by electronic warfare during the five-hour attack. No casualties or damage were reported.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia will increase defence spending by 25 percent to 13.5 trillion roubles ($145bn) in 2025. The move brings the defence budget to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest since the Cold War, according to draft budget documents.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin promoted 52-year-old former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin to the Security Council, along with a new generation of officials tasked with the functioning of wartime command centres and overseeing the defence industry.
• In a video message to mark two years since Russia’s claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Putin insisted that Moscow would accomplish all the goals it had set for itself in Ukraine.
• Three journalists for independent Russian media outlets Republic and SOTAvision were arrested in Moscow outside a concert celebrating the annexations, rights group OVD-info said. The three had their phones confiscated and will be charged with “hooliganism”, the group added.
• Stephen James Hubbard, a 72-year-old US citizen, pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of serving as a mercenary against Russia in the Ukraine war, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. Hubbard’s sister cast doubt on his reported confession, telling the Reuters news agency he was too old to fight.
• A Russian court jailed Alexander Permyakov for life over a 2023 car bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region that seriously injured nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed his driver. News reports said Permyakov was from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there and was a vehement supporter of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
• Ukraine detained a 24-year-old woman and her 40-year-old neighbour in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk on suspicion of being paid by Russia to set military vehicles on fire. Ukraine’s National Police later told the AFP news agency it had recorded “more than 200” similar crimes in several regions this year.
• Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to take over as NATO secretary-general on Tuesday. He will replace Jens Stoltenberg who has guided the Western alliance during a turbulent decade that included Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.