Israel says halting Hezbollah attacks is now a war goal as officials warn of a wider operation

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Tuesday that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the country's north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could ignite an all-out conflict.

Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to take heavier military action to halt the near-daily attacks, which began shortly after the outbreak of the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel has regularly launched airstrikes on Lebanon in response and has targeted and killed senior Hezbollah commanders.

As recently as last month it appeared a full-blown war was imminent.

Tuesday's statement by Israel's security Cabinet signaled a tougher stance at a time when Israeli leaders have stepped up their warnings. But it also appeared to be largely symbolic and may not herald an immediate change in policy.

The tit-for-tat strikes have displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has said it would halt the attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but those talks have repeatedly bogged down.

The United States has pressed for restraint even as it has rushed military aid to Israel, warning its close ally that a wider war would not achieve its goals.

Israeli media have meanwhile reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replacing him with Gideon Saar, the leader of a small right-wing party who is seen as more hawkish. That would be the biggest leadership shakeup in Israel since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza and set off wider regional tensions.

The announcement on Lebanon came after Israel's security Cabinet met late into the night. It said the Cabinet has “updated the objectives of the war" to include safely returning the residents of the north to their homes.

“Israel will continue to act to implement this objective,” it said.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions, met with Netanyahu on Monday.

Hochstein told Netanyahu that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help return Israelis evacuated from the border area to their homes, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.

According to the official, Hochstein argued that Netanyahu risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon and said the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in conjunction with a Gaza cease-fire or on its own.

Netanyahu told Hochstein that residents cannot return without “a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” according to a statement from the prime minister's office. It said that while Netanyahu “appreciates and respects" U.S. support, Israel will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security."

Defense Minister Gallant has meanwhile said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel's north. He told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah, saying “the trajectory is clear.”

Hezbollah has said that while it does not want a wider war it is prepared for one.

Raed Berro, a member of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, said Monday that the militant group “is ready for confrontation and has a lot in its pocket to deter the enemy and protect Lebanon in case Netanyahu thinks of expanding the war.”

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close political ally of Hezbollah, largely dismissed the warnings, telling a local newspaper that the Lebanese have grown used to the “increasing Israeli threats … even if their tone has become louder recently.”

The war in Gaza began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Militants are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after releasing most of the rest during a cease-fire last year.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the territory since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.

Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups across the region, which have carried out strikes on Israeli and U.S. targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. A missile launched by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday set off air raid sirens in central Israel without causing casualties. Israel has hinted at a military response.

Israel and Iran traded fire directly for the first time in April, and Iran has threatened to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran in July. The targeted killing was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent most of this year trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

President Joe Biden endorsed the framework of the agreement in May and the U.N. Security Council backed it days later. But since then, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands, and the talks appear to be at an impasse.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Smoke rises after an Israeli shelling on an area in Lebanon, seen from the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A person takes a picture with his phone of a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Smoke rises to the sky as fire burns in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A car drives past fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli firefighter works to extinguish a fire burning in an area, following an attack from Lebanon, near the Kibbutz Snir, northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

An Israeli army flare is seen over the Israeli-Lebanese border as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)