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Israel, Hizbullah Appear to Step Back from Brink

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah to “calm down,” after the latter threatened to retaliate to an alleged Israeli drone strike in Beirut. In a speech Sunday, Nasrallah claimed that two unmanned aerial vehicles had targeted Hizbullah assets, and, notably, described the incident as the first Israeli attack in Lebanon since the two sides fought a fierce conflict in 2006. Initially, Nasrallah responded by warning Jerusalem that “the time when Israel bombs Lebanon and remains safe had ended.” However, he seemed to walk back his comments Tuesday, telling a Lebanese newspaper that Hizbullah was in no hurry to retaliate. It comes as Reuters reported that Iran’s Lebanese proxy was preparing a “calculated strike” against Israel that is “being arranged in a way which would not lead to a war.” Tensions remain high in Israel’s North, following the IDF’s large-scale military operation over the weekend in Syria to thwart a plot by Tehran to attack Israeli communities using “killer drones.”