On August 26, Ryde, the Pentagon Press Secretary, held a closed-door press conference. Ryde said the US was not involved in the “Pre-emptive” Israeli attack on the Hezbollah. The US did provide some intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to track the Hezbollah’s impending attack, but no action was taken.
Ryde also said that on the evening and morning of the 24th and 25th Eastern Time, United States Secretary of Defense Austin had a conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Galanter, discussed Israeli actions to defend against Hezbollah attacks.
Early on the morning of the 25th, local time, the situation between Li and Israel was suddenly tense. The Israeli military announced a “Pre-emptive” strike on Hezbollah targets after detecting Hezbollah preparing for a “Large-scale” attack. The Hezbollah issued a statement denying this and announced that it had launched a large number of drones and rockets into Israel, it retaliated against an Israeli air strike on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital last month that killed its military leader, Shoqur, and declared the first phase of the attack a success.