The News
Israel struck a Beirut suburb and said it would expand its ground offensive in Gaza, shattering hopes for calm in the region over the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The country’s defense minister announced plans to seize swaths of Gaza in order to create “security zones,” a month into an aid blockade of the enclave. In Beirut, an Israeli air strike killed four people: Israeli officials said a Hezbollah commander was among them, with analysts warning the attack would strain an already-fragile truce with the Lebanese group.
The dual offensives point to a militarily ascendant Israel, yet The Economist cautioned that “overextension… risks turning hubris into disaster.”
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