American Death Toll Passes 30, Israel-Lebanon Border Heats Up

The U.S. State Department confirmed Sunday night that at least 30 Americans were killed during Hamas’s surprise incursion in the southern portion of Israel on October 7. There remain 13 Americans unaccounted for at this time.

“The U.S. government is working around the clock to determine their whereabouts and is working with the Israeli government on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to advise the Israeli government on hostage recovery efforts,” said State.

Meanwhile, Israel’s northern border has seen fire exchanged, with Hezbollah anti-tank and mortar teams succumbing to counter-fire:

Emanuel Fabian reports for the Times of Israel:

The anti-tank missile attacks, which were claimed by the Lebanese terror group, were the latest in a series of skirmishes on the northern frontier, coming amid fears a second front could open up as Israel wages war on terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the south.

The Israel Defense Forces said it shelled the sources of the missile and rocket fire with artillery and carried out strikes against sites belonging to Hezbollah.

The IDF also announced it was restricting the area of up to four kilometers from the Lebanon border, ordering civilians not to enter.

While Israel’s northern border is seeing escalating exchanges, the IDF continues to focus on the Gaza Strip, where it expects to take joint actions by “air, sea, and land.” When and how that counteroffensive might be prosecuted will depend on numerous factors, such as the successful evacuation of Palestinian civilians. Hamas forces are preventing the flight of civilians by establishing roadblocks and allegedly collecting keys and identification from the now-marooned evacuees. Slowing the pace of evacuation while retaining as many non-combatants as possible in the north portion of the Gaza Strip frustrates Israel’s timeline while increasing the number of likely future casualties when the IDF moves to uproot Hamas from the region.

With an eye toward Iran and its advanced munitions being passed to proxies in Syria and Lebanon,  Israel’s bombers have been hitting Syria’s Aleppo airport with repeat applications of ordnance. Joshua Zarka, a strategic affairs head in the Israeli government, appeared to confirm the strikes’ purpose and origin.

Israel’s north and south are trading missiles while the ground forces muster and qualify for combat. The coming week will likely see the IDF’s deployment in both directions. Iran’s threats to “change the face of the map” in Israel are unlikely to dissuade Israelis, while Secretary Antony Blinken’s presence in the region is probably meant to limit the conflict’s spread.

Notably, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now invited President Biden to visit Israel as a show of solidarity. A historic opportunity that Biden will almost certainly dismiss.