Offering a dose of healing, curious beluga whales frolic in a warming Hudson Bay

ON HUDSON BAY (AP) — Playful large white beluga whales bring joy and healing to Hudson Bay. Their happy chirps leap out in an environment and economy threatened by the warming water melting sea ice, starving polar bears and changing the entire food chain.

Loud and curious belugas swarm boats here, clicking, nudging and frolicking. At any given summer moment on the Churchill River that flows into the Hudson Bay, as many as 4,000 belugas can be up and down the waterway, surrounding vessels of all sizes. That makes it hard to find a place where you don't see them, said whale biologist Valeria Vergara, senior scientist at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. It's in their nature.

“The social butterflies of the whale world... You can see it in Churchill,” Vergara said.

The town of Churchill is counting on that to continue. The mostly Indigenous community, pulled out of economic doldrums by polar bear tourism, faces the prospect of a dwindling number of bears because of climate change. So it is counting on another white beast, the beluga, to come to the rescue and entice summer tourists — if the sea mammals can also survive the changes to this gateway to the Arctic.

There's something healing about belugas. Just ask Erin Greene.

Greene was attacked by a polar bear in 2013. She doesn't like to go into details about the attack, but Mayor Mike Spence said she was thrashed by a bear which had her in its jaws. A neighbor hit the bear with a shovel, and a third person used a truck to scare off the bear, which was later found and killed. Years later, Greene said contact with the sociable whales helped pull her out of post-traumatic stress disorder. Now she goes out in the water with them, on a paddleboard, and sings to and with the whales. She also rents paddleboards to tourists, so they can do the same.

Greene, who isn't native to Churchill but came to work in the tourism industry, tried yoga, which eventually led to paddleboarding in Hawaii. It made her feel a little better, so she thought she'd bring it back to Churchill where there isn't just water, but belugas. And that helped her heal, “moving through the various stages of dealing with trauma," she said.

But it's not just her, she said. When she brings her customers into the water, inches from the whales, they also feel better.

“I've never seen an animal except for maybe puppies bring that amount and capacity of joy to people,” Greene said. “Everybody's smiling when they get off the water... Everybody's just experiencing joy. And it's the whales that provide that.”

“With the beluga whales, I think it's quite a different connection than with any other animal because the whales are truly choosing to socialize with you. They want to play,” Greene said. “That's really what sets them apart from other animals. They're so gentle. They have no desire to hurt the human.”

It doesn't hurt that the whales have gotten to know Greene. Vergara has no doubt that they know her.

Greene sings to the whales, including “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles. She also sings the Will Ferrell Eurovision movie song "Husavik (My Hometown)" with the lyric, “where the whales can live ‘cause they’re gentle people.”

That lyric is close to reality, whale expert Vergara said.

“They really have traits that are so similar to human culture, so we can really empathize with them," Vergara said. "They form communities and networks. They cooperate and help raise each other’s young. They’re unbelievably vocal. They’re probably one of the most acoustically active or vocal mammals, along with humans, on Earth.”

Unlike humpback whales, the vocalizations from belugas aren't songs with rhythm and a pattern, she said. When she puts her hydrophones in the water to record the whales’ calls “you really don't think, ‘Oh, I’m hearing singing.' You think ‘I’m in a jungle full of birds'.”

It's a cacophony of clicks and whistles. But it's not random, it's like being dropped into a noisy festival, Vergara said.

“You can't help but wonder what is it that they are communicating with each other,” she said. “They absolutely rely on sound to maintain these very complex societies.”

Research has shown that individual belugas have a distinct call that they use in communication, much like a name, Vergara said. And it takes a couple years for young whales to learn their parents' name and their own. But whales that are related or hang out together have calls or names that are similar, sort of like a last name, she said.

Belugas get the nickname “canary of the sea” because of their vocalization, but it also could apply like the canary in the coal mine, warning about an environment getting more dangerous, Vergara said.

Sea ice is shrinking all over the Arctic, including here in Hudson Bay. And even though this is probably the biggest beluga population in the world, scientists are a bit concerned.

“The disappearing ice is going to affect them,” Vergara said. “We don't know how they're going to react to shifts in water temperature, shifts in food availability, shifts in the availability of regular prey."

The change in ice is part of an overall altering of the base of the food chain: plankton. When those tiny creatures change it means “a whole shift in the prey base of belugas,” Vergara said.

Arctic cod, a high-fat fish that is key in beluga diets, is diminishing, said beluga expert Pierre Richard of the Northern Studies Center in Churchill and author of three whale books. But he said it's an open question on whether belugas can adapt.

In the Beaufort Sea, research shows that belugas aren't as fat as they used to be, but scientists don't know about those in Hudson Bay, Richard said. Another issue is that killer whales that hunt belugas are coming more often into the Hudson Bay and less sea ice means fewer places for belugas to hide, he and University of Washington marine mammal scientist Kristin Laidre said.

“Whether belugas in the Hudson Bay are suffering from these ecosystem changes is not clear at all,” Richard said.

Beluga whales, unlike polar bears, as a species aren't on an endangered or vulnerable species list, although an Alaskan population of them is. There are as many as 200,000 belugas worldwide and the International Union for Conservation of Nature that creates a global endangered list calls them a species of “least concern,” so Vergara said she often gets asked why not concentrate on animals in more imminent danger.

“I would say that the threat to animal cultures can happen much quicker than the extinction of an entire species,” Vergara said. And if subpopulations of belugas are wiped out, their cultures disappear too.

“It's like losing a human language or a human culture,” Vergara said. “We should care.”

Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

Follow Seth Borenstein on X at @borenbears

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Erin Greene, center, owner of Sup North, stands on her paddleboard in the Churchill River while leading a tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

An old beluga whale decal peels off the side of an old boat Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A tour group moves through the Churchill River next to a pod of beluga whales, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A beluga whale swims through the Churchill River, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A beluga whale swims through the Churchill River, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Geoff York, research director for Polar Bears International, takes a photo of a beluga whale as it surfaces, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in the Churchill River near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

The Churchill River, left, empties into the Hudson Bay, right, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A pod of beluga whales surface at they swim through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Erin Greene, left, owner of Sup North, directs a person while leading a paddleboarding tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Beluga whales swim through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A beluga whale blows air out as it swims through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A pod of Beluga whales swim through the Churchill River, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A polar bear statue with painted beluga whales sits outside a gift shop, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Erin Greene, left, owner of Sup North, leads a tour group down to the shoreline, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Erin Greene, center, owner of Sup North, demonstrates proper use of a paddle before leading a paddleboarding tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Erin Greene, center, owner of Sup North, hands out equipment before leading a paddleboarding tour, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A beluga whale swims behind a boat through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

The Israeli military warned several southern Lebanese communities near the border to leave their homes Tuesday, shortly after starting what it called a limited operation against Hezbollah targets.

A senior U.S. administration official said Iran is preparing to “imminently” launch a ballistic missile attack on Israel, and warned Tuesday of “severe consequences” should it take place.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence, said the U.S. is actively supporting Israeli defensive preparations.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning Monday to Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas. “There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu said, just days after an airstrike south of Beirut killed the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is backed by Tehran.

Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, promised the group will fight on following the death Friday of its long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also assassinated several of the group’s top commanders in recent days. Kassem said the group’s fighters are ready and the slain commanders have already been replaced.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas sent fighters into Israel and sparked the war in Gaza. It's been almost a year since some 250 people were abducted from Israel, and friends and family are worried about their loved ones as attention turns away from hostages and north toward Lebanon.

Here is the latest:

WASHINGTON — Iran is preparing to “imminently” launch a ballistic missile attack on Israel, according to a senior U.S. administration official, who warned Tuesday of “severe consequences” should it take place.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said the U.S. is actively supporting Israeli defensive preparations.

This comes after the Israeli military on Tuesday warned people to evacuate nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities hours after announcing what it said were limited ground operations against Hezbollah.

— By Aamer Madhani

DAMASCUS — Syria’s Defense Ministry said that Israeli strikes targeted several areas in capital Damascus early Tuesday.

Air defenses shot down most of the missiles, but three civilians were killed and nine others injured, it said. Among those killed was a well-known television news anchor, Safaa Ahmad.

Israel frequently targets Syrian military sites and locations associated with Iran-backed groups, but strikes inside the city of Damascus are rare.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 19 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and three children, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.

Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and the military’s rapidly accelerating campaign against Hezbollah.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital received the bodies of 11 people after a strike late Monday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. Survivors struggled to identify the remains.

Another eight people were killed in a strike that hit a vehicle in a tent camp in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the nearby Nasser Hospital. Associated Press reporters counted the bodies at both hospitals.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army has been carrying out secretive ground operations to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanese villages close to the border for the past year, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday.

He said that the current ground maneuvers in Lebanon are an expansion of the previous year’s operations.

The military released footage of what it said were Israeli soldiers uncovering tunnels and weapons in at least three Lebanese villages.

He said that troops destroyed more than more than 700 Hezbollah sites, including tunnels carved deep into the hillside. They included separate rooms for storing weapons and what seemed to be bedrooms outfitted with mattresses.

Hagari said that Hezbollah was preparing to carry out an Oct. 7-style attack against Israel, based on the placement of weapons slicks and maps uncovered during operations that refer to a plan called “Conquer the Galilee.”

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says its troops have carried out dozens of small ground operations in Lebanon over the past year.

Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Tuesday that Israeli forces have crossed the border to collect information and destroy infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah militant group.

He said they also blew up tunnels and arsenals.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s media office says an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb destroyed the building housing the offices of a religious TV station.

The media office said that there were no weapons stored in the building where Al-Sirat TV, a Shiite Muslim religious TV station, had its offices.

Prior to Tuesday’s strike, the Israeli military had warned people to evacuate several buildings south of Beirut late Monday, saying they were linked to Hezbollah interests. There was no word on casualties.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has announced new restrictions on public gatherings and closed beaches following Hezbollah rocket fire.

The announcement on Tuesday limits public gatherings to 30 people and includes Jerusalem. It also comes a day before the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, when large crowds typically gather to pray at the Western Wall in the holy city.

The changes are in effect until Oct. 5. Their extension could affect memorial events planned to honor victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

While the official memorials will be filmed without an audience, possibly to minimize interruptions and protests, an alternative ceremony was expected to attract more than 40,000 people to a park in Tel Aviv.

School remains closed in northern Israel, and the new guidelines only allow classes to take place in the center if the school has adequate bomb shelters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hezbollah fired a volley of missiles at central Israel, wounding one person.

PODGORICA, Montenegro — Amnesty international has appealed to Montenegro and Slovenia to stop a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship, believed to be carrying explosives bound for Israel, from docking at their ports.

The rights group said that such cargo “would contribute to the commission of war crimes in Gaza.”

The MV Kathrin left Vietnam’s Hai Phong port on July 21, Amnesty said. Namibian authorities on Aug. 24 revoked previously granted permission for the ship to enter Namibia’s main harbor, citing information from the ship’s operator that some of the explosives on board were destined for Israel.

The ship reportedly was trying to dock at the Slovenian port of Koper or Bar in Montenegro. On Tuesday, it was located not far from Bar and was expected to arrive there on Thursday, according to the Marine Traffic global ship tracking monitor.

OSLO, Norway — Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on Tuesday said that Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was sending a signal that it does not want a wider regional conflict.

“The really big war will come if there is a direct confrontation between Iran and Israel,” he told reporters is Oslo. “So far it has not happened, and Iran’s newly elected president is sending clear signals that they do not want it. “

Barth Eide said that the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah was “exactly the escalation we have feared for a long time,” going from “a very dramatic situation in Gaza and the West Bank to a more international conflict.”

MADRID — Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has urged 1,000 Spanish civilians currently in Lebanon to leave the country and for Israel to stop its assault.

Albares said there are still commercial flights available to leave, but that he is in contact with Spain’s defense ministry to prepare a possible evacuation.

“The land invasion of Lebanon must stop,” Albares said, while also demanding the end of Israeli operations in Gaza and the return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Spain has 676 soldiers in Lebanon deployed under a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

BEIRUT — Hezbollah has denied that Israeli troops have entered Lebanon but says its fighters are ready for a “direct confrontation” if they cross the border.

In its first statement since Israel announced the start of ground operations, Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif said reports that Israeli forces had entered Lebanon were “false claims.”

He said Hezbollah fighters are ready “to have direct confrontation with enemy forces that dare to or try to enter Lebanon to inflict casualties among them.”

He also said Hezbollah’s firing of medium-range missiles toward central Israel earlier on Tuesday “is only the beginning.”

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey condemned the Israeli ground forces’ incursion into southern Lebanon on Tuesday, labeling it an “unlawful invasion attempt” and demanding an immediate cessation of the offensive and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry warned that the incursion jeopardizes the security and stability of countries in and out of the region, heightening the risk of a new wave of migration and the resurgence of extremist groups. The statement said countries that provide political support and arms to Israel would also be affected.

“The U.N. Security Council must uphold international law and take necessary measures against this assault aimed at occupying Lebanon. Every crime committed by Israel is also a blow to international law and the U.N. Charter,” the statement said.

The Israeli military has warned nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities to evacuate.

The warning on Tuesday came hours after Israel sent ground forces into southern Lebanon in what it described as a limited incursion against the Hezbollah militant group.

The evacuation warning was posted by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson on the social media platform X. It specified around two dozen communities in southern Lebanon and ordered people to evacuate north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) from the border.

That is farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a United Nations-declared zone that was intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after the 2006 war. The Litani River is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.

BEIRUT — The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement Tuesday that the Israeli military notified it the day before of its “intention to undertake limited ground incursions into Lebanon” and described it as a “dangerous development.”

The statement did not say if Israeli forces were actually observed crossing the border. Peacekeepers were in position and “have contingency plans ready to activate if absolutely necessary,” it said.

“Any crossing into Lebanon is in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701,” the statement said, referring to the 2006 U.N. resolution that put an end to a bruising monthlong war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. “We urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed.”

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is conducting “localized ground raids” on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, after troops crossed the border overnight in a long-anticipated ground operation.

The scope of the incursion was unclear and there were no immediate reports of clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.

In a video statement released to media on Tuesday, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a military spokesperson, said troops were operating against Hezbollah to ensure that Israeli citizens could return to their homes in the north.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel shortly after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes and the escalating conflict has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides.

Hagari said a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006 had not been enforced and that southern Lebanon was “swarming with Hezbollah terrorists and weapons.”

That resolution called for Hezbollah to withdraw from the area between the border and the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the north, and for the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers to patrol the region.

Both sides have accused the other of violating different terms of the U.N. resolution.

BEIRUT — The United Nations and the Lebanese government have launched a $426 million flash appeal for urgent humanitarian aid for civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

The appeal was launched in Beirut Tuesday by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza.

Mikati said that Lebanon is going through “one of the most dangerous moments in its history.” He said that 1 million people have been displaced as a result “of the destructive war launched by Israel on Lebanon.”

The flash appeal seeks to assist the displaced by addressing urgent needs in areas such as food, basic assistance, shelter, health care, water and municipal services, the U.N. said.

“Without sufficient resources, humanitarians risk leaving the population of an entire country without the support they urgently require,” Riza warned. He added that the no amount of aid can fully address the crisis if civilians continue to be targeted.

LONDON — A British government-chartered flight is due to leave Beirut on Wednesday to bring United Kingdom nationals out of Lebanon.

The government says U.K. nationals, their spouse or partner, and children under the age of 18 are eligible, and priority will be given to the most vulnerable.

Until this announcement, the government urged Britons to leave the country on commercial flights.

On Monday night, Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the situation in Lebanon as “volatile” and warned it could “deteriorate quickly.”

The U.K. also sent 700 troops to a base in Cyprus to prepare for a potential evacuation of the estimated 5,000 British citizens in Lebanon.

ROME — The head of Italy’s main opposition party, Elly Schlein, called on Israel to retreat from Lebanese territory, saying “territorial sovereignty cannot be violated, international law must always prevail."

Schlein, head of Italy’s left-wing Democratic Party, called for a cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon, both under fire from the Israeli military under Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We cannot resign ourselves to daily horror,” she said Tuesday. "Europe and the international community cannot watch in silence. We say enough of Netanyahu’s bombardments and Hezbollah’s missiles.”

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says an Israeli airstrike on a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon killed six people, including the son of a Palestinian official.

National News Agency said the early Tuesday airstrike on Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, targeted the home of Gen. Munir Makdah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group. NNA said Makdah’s son and daughter-in-law, as well as another woman and three children, were killed in the airstrike.

Makdah’s brother, Khalil Makdah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in August in the port city of Sidon.

BEIRUT — The Lebanese army says it redeployed troops in some observation points along the border with Israel.

The army did not give further details about the posts. It said the Lebanese military is coordinating with United Nations peacekeepers deployed along the tense border area.

The army’s statement Tuesday denied local media reports that troops have moved several kilometers (miles) away from the border ahead of a possible Israel ground operation.

Thousands of Lebanese troops were deployed along the border with Israel following the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

BEIRUT — The Israeli military says parts of south Lebanon are witnessing “intense fighting” and called on people not to enter the area south of the Litani River.

The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted Tuesday on X that people should not drive into the area south of the Litani River. The area has dozens of towns and villages close to the Israeli border.

Hezbollah’s acting leader, Naim Kassem, said Monday the group will fight any Israeli troops who try to occupy parts of Lebanon. Israeli said its ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a yearlong war against its Iranian-backed adversaries.

Under a United Nations resolution that ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, the area south of the Litani River was supposed to be controlled by the Lebanese army and a U.N. peacekeeping force, but both Israel and Hezbollah blame each other for violating the resolution. Israel says it wants to root out an elite Hezbollah fighting force from the area.

ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that “a de-escalation at regional level is urgent and necessary.”

“The protection of civilians remains the priority along with guaranteeing the security of the Italian military contingent of UNIFIL present in southern Lebanon," she said in a statement.

Italy, which holds the G7 rotating presidency, is working with allies to stabilize the situation along Israeli-Lebanon border, and to help people who have been displaced by the fighting return to their homes, Meloni said.

The Israeli military began what it called a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border.

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The foreign minister of Cyprus says evacuations of third-country nationals from Lebanon to the east Mediterranean island nation are “slow and controlled so far.”

Minister Constantinos Kombos told The Associated Press on Tuesday that large-scale evacuations from Lebanon have not begun, even as Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants.

Kombos said Cyprus has received some staff from foreign diplomatic missions and some Saudi nationals a few days ago. About 60 Chinese nationals are due to arrive by ship at the island nation’s main port of Limassol.

Cyprus has agreements with around a dozen countries to act as a temporary host for their evacuated nationals before their repatriation. Under the “Estia” plan, evacuees will be processed and given accommodations for a few days before catching flights to their home countries.

Cyprus helped repatriate hundreds of British and other third-country citizens who were evacuated from Sudan in 2023. In 2006, some 60,000 foreign nationals evacuated from Lebanon during a month-long Israel-Hezbollah war used Cyprus as a waystation before heading abroad.

BEIRUT — Overnight and Tuesday morning, Hezbollah said it targeted groups of soldiers in several Israeli border areas with artillery shelling and rockets. It was not immediately clear if any soldiers were hit.

The militant group has been firing at locations near the border, and claiming to have hit soldiers there, since Oct. 8, in solidarity with Hamas. It has not commented on the Israeli military announcement that it had started a ground incursion.

Suspected attacks Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted at least one ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.

The attack comes as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders and the earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia. The Houthis had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over the country.

The first attack Tuesday morning took place some 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships traveling through a waterway that once saw $1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center later reported a second attack north of the first. The private intelligence firm Ambrey similarly reported two separate attacks. However, it wasn’t immediately clear if the same vessel had come under attack again.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, they sometimes take hours or days to acknowledge one of their assaults.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the United States 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.

WASHINGTON — The White House National Security Council said Israel’s “limited operations” to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure across the border were in line with the country’s right to defend itself.

The NSC, however, warned that the an expansion of that operation was a risk. It added that a diplomatic solution was the only way to achieve lasting stability along Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon in an offensive targeting Hezbollah. The Israeli military said Tuesday it has begun a limited ground operation against Hezbollah targets that were an an immediate threat to northern Israeli communities.

"This is in line with Israel’s right to defend its citizens and safely return civilians to their homes. We support Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah and all Iranian-backed terror groups. Of course, we know that mission creep can be a risk and we will keep discussing that with the Israelis,” the NSC said.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that he agreed on the need for a ground offensive inside Lebanon to rid the border area of Hezbollah weapons and other means it can use to carry out attacks across the border.

In the call, Austin said the U.S. supports Israel’s right to defend itself and discussed Israel’s military operations.

“We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border,” Austin said in a statement posted on X.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that it began a “limited, localized” operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

It said it was carrying out “targeted ground raids” in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an “immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”

It announced early Tuesday that the operation was planned in recent months and was launched after approval by political leaders.

A man checks the damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man documents the damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man documents the damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A damaged building is seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile towards southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli army tanks manoeuvre in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israeli army tanks manoeuvre in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli army tanks manoeuvre in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, early Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli shelling hit an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A mourner holds up a poster of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with a quotation of him: "We will definitely win" at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) St. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

A cat walks past a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Israeli soldiers sleep on tanks in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)