U.S. officials believe Israel has focused its potential retaliation against Iran's recent attack on key military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported Saturday.
The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in a year of war as Israel continues its brutal military campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza. Tehran, a major oil producer, has threatened Israel with severe consequences if the Islamic Republic is attacked.
Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile barrage on Oct. 1, which was launched in retaliation for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, the attack on Lebanon and the killings of several key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
There is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, citing unnamed U.S. officials and adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.
U.S. and Israeli officials said a response could come during the current Yom Kippur holiday, according to the report.
Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the report.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the latter began launching rockets at northern Israel in protests of the Gaza war and has sharply escalated in recent weeks.
Israel's military said it continues to operate in southern Lebanon to dismantle the Hezbollah infrastructure.
"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) has struck approximately 200 Hezbollah targets deep in Lebanon and southern Lebanon ... ," it said.
Israel also said five launches that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted by the air force.
The Israeli military added in a statement Sunday that one of its reservists and an officer were severely injured in two separate incidents during combat in southern Lebanon, with additional soldiers suffering light to moderate injuries.
The Israeli military also said that it captured a Hezbollah member in southern Lebanon after discovering an underground tunnel leading to a hideout, where they allegedly found an area with weapons and supplies for extended use.
Hezbollah announced a rocket strike on the Tirat HaCarmel transport base in southern Haifa, in a statement Sunday.
Israel has intensified its military operations in recent weeks, bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders and launching a smaller ground invasion.
Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.
Israel's expanded operation has displaced more than 1.2 million people, according to Lebanon's government, which says more than 2,100 people have been killed and 10,000 wounded in over a year of fighting.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday, expressed "deep concern" about reports that Israeli forces had fired on U.N. peacekeeping positions in Lebanon in recent days and urged Israel to ensure safety for them and the Lebanese military, the Pentagon said.
Five peacekeepers have been injured in three separate incidents since Thursday, the peacekeeping mission UNIFIL has said.
The fighting in the region which includes all of Tehran's allied groups – Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and armed groups in Iraq – has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into a full-scale conflict in the oil-producing Middle East.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said in a statement Sunday it had targeted a military site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with drones as part of its support of the Palestinian people and Lebanon. It said it would continue escalating attacks against Israeli strongholds.
Israel launched its genocidal Gaza war after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, incursion of southern Israel caused 1,200 people deaths.
Israel, in response, has so far killed over 42,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.
