Joe Biden dials Bibi as retaliation against Iran looms

US President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Israeli officials said, for talks expected to include a discussion of Israeli plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran. The call, underway late Wednesday morning US time, was the leaders’ first known chat since August and coincided with a sharp escalation of Israel’s conflict with both Iran and Iran-backed Hezbollah with no sign of an imminent ceasefire deal to end the conflict in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah on Wednesday said its fighters had pushed back advancing Israeli troops in clashes along the length of the border.

The group said it had fired several rocket salvos at Israeli troops near the village of Labbouneh in the western part of the border area, close to the Mediterranean coast, and had managed to push them back. Further east, it said it had attacked Israeli soldiers in the village of Maroun el-Ras and fired missile barrages at Israeli forces advancing towards the twin border villages of Mays al-Jabal and Mouhaybib. Israel meanwhile launched airstrikes including at targets far from the border combat zone.

60 killed in Gaza

At least 60 people were killed in Israeli military strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said on Wednesday, as Israeli forces pressed on with a raid in the enclave’s north where a UN aid official said hunger is spreading again.

The Israeli military says the raid, now in its fifth day, is intended to stop Hamas fighters staging further attacks from Jabalia and to prevent them regrouping.

Lebanon Envoy invokes Gandhi

New Delhi: Lebanon’s Ambassador to India Rabie Narsh cited Mahatma Gandhi’s words and said Hezbollah is a legitimate political party supported by the people and cannot be eliminated. “I am reminded of Mahatma Gandhi’s words: You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill the revolution,” the ambassador said