WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel warned U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day of the call, in an attack widely blamed on Israel, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah militants exploded.
The call was one of four between Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant this week as attacks have spiked between Israel and Hezbollah, fueling worries that they could escalate into a wider regional war.
The two spoke again later Tuesday, and the U.S. has acknowledged being briefed following the attack. There was another call Wednesday, and they also spoke Sunday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
The officials said the U.S. did not get advance warning of the second wave of attacks, with walkie-talkie radios targeted Wednesday. At least 37 people were killed, including two children, and some 3,000 wounded in the two days of explosions.
The officials stressed that the U.S. played no role in the attacks and said they were surprised by the specifics of the operations.
The attacks on electronic devices this week appeared to be the culmination of a monthslong operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once — but civilians were also hit.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh on Thursday acknowledged the four calls but did not provide timelines of when they happened. She said the U.S. has not made any changes in its force posture in the region as a result of the recent surge in attacks.
During a call Wednesday with Gallant, Austin spoke about regional security developments and reiterated America’s unwavering support for Israel in the face of threats from Iran, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the region, Singh said.
Austin “emphasized the U.S. commitment to deterring regional adversaries, deescalating tensions across the region, and reaffirmed the priority of reaching a cease-fire deal that would bring home hostages held by Hamas,” she said.
He also pushed for a diplomatic solution that would allow civilians on both sides of Israel's northern border with Lebanon to return to their homes, Singh said.
Asked about the potential for a U.S. military evacuation of American citizens in Lebanon, Singh said the Pentagon has not gotten a request from the State Department to do that. State did urge U.S. citizens in Lebanon to maintain a low profile and review their security awareness in alerts this week.
State Department and White House officials say there are longstanding contingency plans for the potential evacuation of Americans in Lebanon but they have no information to suggest that those will become operational anytime soon.
“We have evacuation plans available for places all over the world,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “But I wouldn’t lead that to believe that we’re in a moment now where we think we need to imminently call for that or act on that right now.”
Other officials said U.S. Navy ships with Marines on board are already well-positioned in the Mediterranean Sea to assist if asked.
AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a Sept. 11 observance ceremony at the Pentagon, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — With the U.S. House narrowly divided, contests for Pennsylvania's seats will be critical to control of the chamber in this year's election, even as the state also plays a big role in determining control of the White House and Senate.
The magic number of pickups is four for Democrats to take control of the House, magnifying the stakes of each House race.
In Pennsylvania, the parties began the year viewing five races as competitive, as Democrats defend their 9-8 advantage in the state's 17-seat delegation.
Adding to the stakes is the fact that Pennsylvania is home to one of the “Biden 16” — the 16 House districts nationally that President Joe Biden won in 2020 but are represented by Republicans.
On the opposite side, Pennsylvania is also home to one of the eight districts that former President Donald Trump won but are represented by Democrats. Five of those Democrats are running for reelection.
Federal Election Commission filings show the candidates and outside groups have poured more than $60 million into the races, with the total expected to climb significantly until polls close on Nov. 5.
For Republicans, there may be room to flip districts: Two incumbent Democrats won by fewer than 2.5 percentage points in 2022.
Here is a look at the five key races:
Four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, is a top target again for Democrats: He is one of the Biden 16.
But Fitzpatrick, a mild-mannered former FBI agent who took over the seat from his late brother, has a potent winning formula that includes his family’s name recognition and inroads into traditional Democratic voting districts.
He is endorsed by top-tier labor unions, as well as the AFL-CIO, and is running a digital ad calling himself the “No. 1 most bipartisan congressman.”
His opponent is Ashley Ehasz, a former Army helicopter pilot he beat in 2022 by almost 10 points.
Democrats have attacked Fitzpatrick's vote for Trump’s tax-cutting legislation, his opposition to Trump's impeachment and his support for a 20-week abortion ban in 2017.
Fitzpatrick is running an ad saying he backs abortion rights — specifically, Pennsylvania's law that protects the right to an abortion until 24 weeks of gestation, the Roe v. Wade standard of viability — and cites his votes to protect access to IVF and contraception.
Fitzpatrick has more than doubled Ehasz's fundraising and her campaign hasn't attracted any outside groups to spend against Fitzpatrick.
Three-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and six-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright are each a perennial Republican target in their eastern Pennsylvania districts and each has consistently fended off challengers, if by slim margins.
Their races are emerging as the most expensive congressional contests in the state.
Cartwright has the distinction of being one of five Democrats nationally running for reelection in a district won by Trump in 2020 — even though his 8th District seat includes Scranton, the city where Biden was born and that played prominently into Biden's winning presidential campaign.
Wild and Cartwright represent neighboring districts with similar geographies: small cities, suburbs and stretches of rural eastern Pennsylvania that include anthracite coal country. The districts are also similar in the narrow registration that Democrats hold over Republicans.
Challenging Wild in her Allentown-area 7th District seat is state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Wild outraised Mackenzie almost 7-to-1 through June 30.
Challenging Cartwright is Rob Bresnahan, a first-time candidate and developer who runs a family construction company.
Cartwright outraised Bresnahan by more than 2-to-1 through June 30, with outside groups pouring more than $11 million into it, according to disclosures to the Federal Election Commission.
The Wild-Mackenzie race isn't far behind, with outside groups spending more than $10 million on it, according to the disclosures.
The hard-right politics of six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry have made him a perennial target for Democrats in a Republican-leaning district around the cities of Harrisburg and York, with deep-red exurbs, rolling farm country and fast-growing suburbs.
Perry was chairman of the Freedom Caucus, a hard-line faction of conservatives that exerts outsize influence on the GOP majority, and was the only lawmaker to have his cellphone seized by FBI agents investigating the web of Trump loyalists who were central to the former president's bid to remain in power after his 2020 reelection loss.
More about Perry's efforts to help Trump emerged since he was last reelected in 2022. Those details included Perry’s efforts to elevate Jeffrey Clark to Trump’s acting attorney general — designed to reverse the Department of Justice’s stance that it had found no evidence of widespread voting fraud that would change the election result.
Perry has not been charged with a crime.
Perry won reelection in 2022 by almost 8 points against a relatively weak opponent. This time around he's facing Janelle Stelson, a longtime local TV news anchor who is a household name.
Stelson has her own baggage: She's a Republican-turned-Democrat who doesn't live in the district. Still, she has relentlessly attacked Perry over his opposition to abortion rights and his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio is being challenged in his western Pennsylvania district by state Rep. Rob Mercuri in a race that hasn't made as much noise as the others.
Deluzio, a freshman, outraised Mercuri by nearly 3-to-1 through June 30 and the race has attracted little interest from outside groups.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 4-3 ratio in the district, which encompasses Pittsburgh's western suburbs and one-time steel towns along the Ohio River in Allegheny County up through Beaver County.
Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.
FILE - Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., laughs as she speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - Rob Bresnahan speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Aug. 17, 2024, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., from Pennsylvania's 8th U.S. Congressional District, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol building, in Washington, July 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)