In av Gallant warned "Iran’s aggression has reached an all-time high" as the U.S. scrambles to broker a cease-fire deal with Hamas after nearly 11 months of war.

"To counter this, we must work together to achieve and project groundbreaking capabilities in all arenas," Gallant said according to a readout of the meeting from Tel Aviv, which was also attended by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.

Gallant highlighted the "strategic junction" that Israel finds itself in as it stares down threats from Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north — both of which are heavily backed by Iran.

Despite U.S. attempts to garner a cease-fire deal in coordination with Egypt and Qatar, Hamas has yet to agree to any terms so long as Israeli forces are permitted to remain in security corridors throughout Gaza.

Details of the cease-fire talks remain unclear, but on Monday Gallant looked to remind Brown what Israel’s primary aims are in its war in Gaza, including the dismantlement of Hamas, ensuring the return of hostages first taken by the terrorist group following the Oct. 7 attacks, and "changing the security situation along Israel’s northern border so that the region’s communities may safely return to their homes."

Since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza claims some 40,000 Palestinians have been killed — though it does not differentiate the number of civilians versus the number of terrorists killed. Nearly another 700 Israeli soldiers and roughly 1,200 Israeli civilians have also been killed since the Hamas attack.

But despite the ongoing fighting in Gaza, some security officials argue the biggest threat Jerusalem faces is in the north, where it routinely exchanges missile and drone fire with Hezbollah.

The meeting between Brown and Gallant came one day after the world watched with concern that an all-out-war between Israel and Hezbollah — and by extension Iran — had finally begun following threats from Tehran last month.

On Sunday, Hezbollah said it launched hundreds of rockets and drones at northern Israeli military positions. Jerusalem said it too had fired upon southern Lebanon using 100 warplanes to launch a series of preemptive strikes on Hezbollah strongholds where thousands of rocket launchers were reportedly positioned in a move to thwart an imminent attack. The IDF said no Israeli military installations were hit during the Hezbollah attack.

The exchange appears to have resulted in three deaths in Lebanon, and one Israeli soldier was killed, though by mid-morning Sunday the assault was over.

Reports on Monday suggested the long-awaited attack by Iran and Hezbollah, which resulted in a relatively limited number of casualties, may have eased concerns of a broader war in the Middle East.

But comments made by Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, on Monday signified the threat posed by Iran has not diminished.

"What we witnessed yesterday is only part of that revenge," he said, according to Arab news outlet Al Mayadeen English. "Revenge against the Israeli entity is inevitable."

The exchange of fire on Sunday does not appear to have altered any of the progress in the ceasefire talks with Hamas, according to White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby on Monday.

"There continues to be progress. Our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive," he told reporters. "Despite the rocket and drone attack by Hezbollah over the course of the weekend, which Israel did a terrific job defending against, it has not affected the actual work on the ground by the teams trying to get the ceasefire deal in place."

Kirby said there remains a sense of "urgency" in trying to get a ceasefire secured.

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Top US general says risk of broader war eases a bit after Israel-Hezbollah exchange

The near-term risk of a broader war in the Middle East has eased somewhat after Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah exchanged fire without further escalation but Iran still poses a significant danger as it weighs a strike on Israel, America's top general said on Monday.

Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to Reuters after emerging from a three-day trip to the Middle East that saw him fly into Israel just hours after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, and Israel's military struck Lebanon to thwart a larger attack. It was one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare, but it also ended with limited damage in Israel and without immediate threats of more retaliation from either side.

Brown noted Hezbollah's strike was just one of two major threatened attacks against Israel that emerged in recent weeks. Iran is also threatening an attack over the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran last month.

Asked if the immediate risk of a regional war had declined, Brown said: "Somewhat, yes."

"You had two things you knew were going to happen. One's already happened. Now it depends on how the second is going to play out," Brown said while flying out of Israel.

"How Iran responds will dictate how Israel responds, which will dictate whether there is going to be a broader conflict or not."

Brown also cautioned that there was also the risk posed by Iran's militant allies in places such as Iraq, Syria and Jordan who have attacked U.S. troops as well as Yemen's Houthis, who have targeted Red Sea shipping and even fired drones at Israel.

"And do these others actually go off and do things on their own because they're not satisfied - the Houthis in particular," Brown said, calling the Shia group the "wild card."

Iran has vowed a severe response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.

Brown said the U.S. military was better positioned to aid in the defense of Israel, and its own forces in the Middle East, than it was on April 13, when Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, unleashing hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

Still, Israel, the U.S. and other allies managed to destroy almost all of the weapons before they reached their targets.

"We're better postured," Brown said. He noted Sunday's decision to maintain two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East, as well as extra squadron of F-22 fighter jets.

"We try to improve upon what we did in April."

Brown said whatever plans Iran's military might have, it would be up to Iran's political leaders to make a decision.

"They want to do something that sends a message but they also, I think ... don't want to do something that's going to create a broader conflict."

STRUGGLING WITH GAZA FALLOUT

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, now in its 11th month. The conflict has leveled huge swathes of Gaza, triggered border clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and drawn in Yemen's Houthis.

Brown traveled on Monday to the Israeli military's Northern Command, where he was briefed on the threats along Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria. In Tel Aviv, he met Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and its Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.

Asked about Lebanese Hezbollah's military might, particularly after the strikes by Israel, Brown cautioned "they still have capability."

The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's military campaign has driven nearly all of the Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

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Iran and allies planning more attacks on Israel, warns armed forces chief

A Hezbollah UAV is intercepted by Israeli air forces over northern Israel on Sunday.

Iran and its allies are planning more attacks on Israel, the chief of staff of Tehran’s armed forces warned on Monday.

Tehran’s renewed threat came after Hezbollah claimed to have fired over 300 rockets at northern Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the killing of one of its commanders.

Israel in return said it sent 100 fighter jets to attack thousands of rockets in Lebanon in a preemptive strike.

Major General Mohammad Bagheri said: “The blood of Martyr Ismail Haniyeh will definitely be avenged by the Axis of Resistance and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He emphasised that the retaliation would come from multiple fronts, saying: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will determine its course of action for revenge, while the Axis of Resistance will carry out its own independent and separate response, as we saw yesterday.”

Nasser Kanaani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, said that despite the “comprehensive support of states like the United States, Israel could not predict the time and place of a limited and managed response by the resistance”.

Mr Kanaani said Israel now had to defend itself inside its territory, showing how the “strategic balances have undergone fundamental changes” in the region. Israel had lost its “deterrence power”, he claimed.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, also threatened Israel, saying his country’s response to the assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month is “definitive, and will be measured and well calculated”.

“We do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it – unlike Israel,” he said.

Hezbollah’s attack on Sunday did little damage inside Israel, with one Navy soldier killed by what appeared to be shrapnel from an Iron Dome missile that intercepted a drone.

Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, also dismissed the claim by Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, that rockets had hit major Israeli military bases, saying most of them either “fell on their way to Israeli territory, landed in open areas, or were intercepted by air force defence systems and Navy ships”.

Mr Hagari added: “Approximately 90 per cent of the targets struck were short-range rockets aimed at northern Israel. Hezbollah managed to launch only about 230 rockets and over 20 drones.”

Meanwhile, ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel finished on Sunday. “Some progress” had been made, an Israeli official told The Telegraph.

“The fact that a lower level working team stayed in Cairo to continue talks shows a willingness to get this deal done,” the official said.

While the main sticking point is still the Philadelphi Corridor, the official believed it would be possible to make some compromises on the level of Israeli control over the buffer zone.

“We hope that the high-level delegations will resume talks next week,” the official said.

Hamas, however, poured cold water on the prospects of a deal on Sunday, saying that it had rejected the most recent demands put forward by Israel in Cairo.

Despite not directly participating in the ceasefire talks, Hamas was physically present in Cairo, with messages being passed back and forth between mediators and the terror group.

Hezbollah has stated repeatedly that it will stop its daily attacks on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, giving Jerusalem as well as the US, Qatar and Egypt, an even bigger incentive to reach a deal.

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Netanyahu vows more 'surprising blows' after Israel thwarted 'thousands' of Hezbollah rockets: 'Not the end'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed more "surprising blows" against Iran-backed terrorist groups after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly struck launch sites in Lebanon just minutes before Hezbollah was planning to fire thousands of rockets into central Israel.

"What happened today is not the end of the story. Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones early in the morning," Netanyahu said at a government meeting in Tel Aviv Sunday morning. "We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful pre-emptive strike to remove the threat."

"The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, and they were all intended to harm our citizens and our forces in Galilee," he continued. "In addition, the IDF intercepted all the UAVs that Hezbollah launched for a strategic purpose in the center of the country. We are hitting Hezbollah with surprising blows…. Three weeks ago, we eliminated his chief of staff, and today, we foiled his attack plan."

"Nasrallah in Beirut and Khamenei in Tehran should know that this is another step on the way to change the situation in the north and return our residents safely to their homes," Netanyahu added. "And I repeat – this is not the end of the story."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Sunday to discuss the latest developments, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

"The Secretary reiterated Israel's right to defend itself and the United States' ironclad resolve to support Israel's defense against threats from Iran and its regional partners and proxies," Ryder said. "As part of that support, the Secretary has ordered the presence of two Carrier Strike Groups to remain in the region. The Secretary also expressed support for completing negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage-release deal."

In an earlier statement, White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said President Biden "is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon."

"He has been engaged with his national security team throughout the evening. At his direction, senior U.S. officials have been communicating continuously with their Israeli counterparts. We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability," Savett added.

It was national security adviser Jake Sullivan leading those updates to Biden throughout the night, officials tell Fox News.

After Hezbollah announced last night that their attack was over, White House officials said they will keep monitoring the situation.

"There are no indications right now that another round is coming," one official told Fox News.

A Western intelligence official told the New York Times that Israel's preemptive attack targeted and destroyed missile launchers in Lebanon that had been programmed to fire at 5 a.m. toward Tel Aviv.

The IDF were able to carry out a preemptive attack on thousands of rocket launchers in Lebanon after information gathered from Israeli intelligence agencies, including the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate (MID), found Hezbollah was planning to use them to target strategic military sites in central Israel, including in the Gush Dan region, the Israeli English-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The IDF also intercepted drones traveling from Lebanon that were intended to target central Israel, according to the newspaper.

Approximately 100 Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, struck and destroyed "thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels that were located and embedded in southern Lebanon," the IDF said earlier. "Most of these launchers were aimed toward northern Israel and some were aimed toward central Israel, and more than 40 launch areas in Lebanon were struck during the strikes."

The IDF said its forces struck Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon to remove threats and identified a terrorist cell operating in the area of Khiam in southern Lebanon.

"The IAF swiftly struck the terrorists," IDF wrote on X.

At an earlier news briefing, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces identified "extensive preparation by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to fire toward the Israeli Home Front."

"After extensive identification, the IAF and Northern Command began proactively and broadly striking Hezbollah targets in order to remove the threats aimed at the citizens of Israel," Hagari said. "We are removing threats against the Israeli home front. Dozens of IAF jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah terrorist organization."

The Israeli military said it struck because Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. Soon after, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israeli military positions as an initial response to the killing of Fouad Shukur, one of its founding members, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month.

By mid-morning, it appeared that the exchange had ended, with both sides saying they had only aimed at military targets, according to The Associated Press.

Israeli Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Hezbollah had intended to hit targets in northern and central Israel. He said initial assessments found "very little damage" in Israel, but that the military remained on high alert.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that two people were killed and another two were wounded in the strikes in southern Lebanon.

Separately, a fighter for the Amal group, which is allied with Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on a car, Amal said.

HEZBOLLAH OPERATIVES KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES AS TERROR GROUP FIRES 100 ROCKETS AT JEWISH STATE

Hezbollah said its attack involved more than 320 Katyusha rockets aimed at multiple sites in Israel, and a "large number" of drones. It said the operation was targeting "a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later" as well as "enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome (missile defense) platforms."

Hezbollah said the strikes would allow it to launch more attacks deeper into Israel, but a later statement said that "military operations for today have been completed." The terrorist group said it targeted 11 bases, barracks and military positions in northern Israel, including the Golan Heights, and dismissed Israel's claim to have thwarted a stronger attack. Hezbollah did not provide evidence for its claims.

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was expected to give a speech later on Sunday.

After an emergency government meeting, Lebanon’s caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said officials were "feeling a bit more optimistic" about a de-escalation.

"We feel more reassured since both sides confirmed that the expected operations ended, and we know that the negotiations in Cairo are very serious," he said.

Meanwhile, Egypt on Sunday is hosting high-level talks aimed at brokering a cease-fire in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which diplomats hope will tamp down regional tensions.

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. is expected to make a trip to the Middle East to participate in negotiations.

"Over the next few days, the Chairman will visit key allies and partners in the region, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, as a display of the long-term U.S. commitment to the Middle East and to further his understanding of the various perspectives of ongoing tensions," Joint Staff spokesperson Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey said in a statement Saturday.

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