Middle East latest: US says it will send THAAD defense battery to Israel, along with US troops

The U.S. is sending a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel, along with US troops to operate it. The Pentagon made the announcement just hours after Iran warned the U.S. to keep its military forces out of Israel.

Israel is widely believed to be preparing a military response to Iran's Oct. 1 attack when it fired roughly 180 missiles into Israel.

Israel has been escalating its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border after a year of exchanges of fire. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hamas’ ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

It’s been a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

Israel’s military says four soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base next to Binyamina city.

A military statement says the strike Sunday evening also severely injured seven soldiers.

It’s the deadliest Hezbollah strike since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah earlier claimed responsibility and called the attack retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fired almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, and fighting has escalated.

United Hatzalah, an Israeli rescue service, says more than 60 people were injured in a drone strike in central Israel.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in the central city of Binyamina. Hezbollah said it targeted a military camp in retaliation for the two strikes in Beirut on Thursday, which killed 22 people.

It was not immediately clear whether military members were hurt or what was hit. There were no details from Israel’s military, which earlier reported at least 115 rockets were fired from Lebanon.

Israeli media said that two drones were launched from Lebanon, and the military said one drone was intercepted.

Israel’s advanced air defense systems mean such a high number of injuries from drones or missiles are exceptionally rare. The strike against Israel was one of the most serious since the start of the war.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel Rescue Services said that at least 20 people were injured in a drone strike in the central Israeli city of Binyamina, three of them critically.

Israeli media said that two drones were launched from Lebanon, and one was intercepted near the coast.

This is the second drone strike in two days in Israel. On Saturday, during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, a drone struck a retirement home in a suburb of Tel Aviv, causing damage but no injuries.

Israel’s defense minister says Israel is making sure that Hezbollah militants won’t return to communities in southern Lebanon.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made the comments Sunday during a visit to forces in northern Israel near the border.

Gallant described the “entire first line of villages” in southern Lebanon as having Hezbollah infrastructure and asserted that Israeli defense forces are currently destroying it above and below ground during their ground invasion.

“I have instructed the IDF at all levels to ensure the destruction of (attack infrastructure) and to ensure that terrorists may not return to these places. This is essential in order to ensure the safety of Israel’s northern communities,” Gallant said.

The United States will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and troops to Israel. The Pentagon made the announcement Sunday, shortly after Iran warned Washington to keep American military forces out of Israel.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden.

Ryder said the air defense system will help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s missile attacks on Israel in April and October.

The THAAD is a defensive system that shoots down incoming ballistic missiles.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon says Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one of its bases in southern Lebanon and destroyed the main gate early Sunday. A UNIFIL statement calls it a “further flagrant violation of international law.” The tanks later left.

Israel has warned the U.N. force to evacuate its positions during its offensive in southern Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that have struck peacekeeper’s positions in the past few days, most of them blamed by UNIFIL on Israeli forces.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday expressed regret for wounding peacekeepers but accused the U.N. mission of providing a “human shield” for Hezbollah.

Israel has long accused the U.N. of being biased against it, and relations have worsened during the yearlong war in Gaza.

UNIFIL was created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after Israel invaded and occupied south Lebanon.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon of serving as “human shields” for Hezbollah after Israeli strikes wounded five of them in recent days.

The Israeli military has warned UNIFIL to evacuate southern Lebanon as it carries out air and ground operations against Hezbollah militants, but the peacekeepers have so far refused.

Netanyahu said Sunday that their refusal to clear out “has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields,” saying they had become “hostages of Hezbollah.”

“We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he said in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general, who has been banned from entering Israel.

The military has ordered the peacekeepers to move five kilometers (three miles) north, which would effectively keep them from doing their mission. They have already halted patrols because of air and ground attacks.

Israel has long accused the U.N. of being biased against it and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza. It has accused the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees of having been infiltrated by Hamas, allegations the agency denies.

ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the security of U.N. forces in southern Lebanon must be “guaranteed at all times.”

In a phone conversation Sunday with Netanyahu, Meloni also stressed that UNIFIL “acts under a mandate from the Security Council to contribute to regional stability.” She reiterated “the absolute necessity that the security of UNIFIL personnel be guaranteed at all times."

Netanyahu says Hezbollah uses U.N. peacekeepers as “human shields” after Israeli strikes wounded five of them in recent days.

The Italian premier also said she is convinced that, through the full implementation of U .N. Security Council Resolution 1701, “we can contribute to the stabilization of the Israeli-Lebanese border and ensure the return home of all displaced persons.”

Both Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers are deployed in southern Lebanon to enforce the resolution that ended a bloody monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

BAGHDAD — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the Middle East faces “dangerous challenges” as Tehran anticipates an Israeli strike.

“Iran does not seek war, but we are prepared for war,” Araghchi said at a news conference in Baghdad after meeting with his Iraqi counterpart.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said Israel was forbidden from using Iraq’s airspace in any possible strike against Iran.

Baghdad’s top diplomat said an outbreak of regional war will create not only a global crisis but also fertile ground for the reemergence of extremist groups like the Islamic State.

“We are trying to keep the conflict away from the region and Iraq,” he said.