Video: The incident in the Gaza Strip / Credit: IDF Spokesperson

According to details of the incident, a group of at least 14 terrorists emerged from a subterranean tunnel near the IDF outpost. They opened fire with antitank missiles and machine guns on IDF personnel at the location.

The soldiers stationed at the outpost returned fire, neutralizing at least eight terrorists during the intense exchange. The remaining terrorists attempted to escape, prompting the IDF to deploy aircraft and tanks to engage them. Three soldiers sustained injuries during the attack.

Some 10 terrorists were killed in face-to-face clashes and from aerial strikes. About eight terrorists fled back into the tunnels. One Nachshon Battalion soldier from the Kfir Brigade was seriously wounded in the clash and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. His family has been notified. Two additional soldiers sustained light injuries. IDF ground and air forces continue to scan the area in search of the terrorists. The army assesses that the cell had planned to infiltrate the outpost and possibly abduct soldiers.

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CNN reported the airstrikes followed a series of deadly incidents, including a Thai soldier losing his leg to a landmine explosion just one day earlier.

The Thai military's 2nd regional command announced on Facebook that F-16 fighter jets had been deployed and claimed to have "destroyed" two Cambodian regional military support units, according to CNN. Deputy Army spokesperson Colonel Richa Suksuwanont stated the airstrikes targeted only military positions, though Cambodian officials had not immediately confirmed the attacks.

Armed confrontations broke out along the disputed frontier early Thursday morning when Thai forces said Cambodian troops opened fire on a Thai army base near the ancient Ta Muen Thom Temple, which sits in contested territory between Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia's northwest region, CNN reported. Thai officials accused Cambodia of deploying an unmanned drone before the temple and then sending armed troops into the area.

The fighting spread beyond the temple site as Cambodian forces allegedly fired heavy weapons into civilian areas of Thailand's Kap Choeng district in Surin province. "The attack injured three civilians. Thai authorities have promptly evacuated residents from the area to ensure the safety of lives and property," the Thai military stated.

Cambodia's Defense Ministry offered a sharply different account, with Lieutenant General Maly Socheata claiming their troops acted in self-defense following an unprovoked Thai incursion. "Cambodian forces acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense, responding to an unprovoked incursion by Thai troops that violated our territorial integrity," Socheata explained to CNN.

Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote on Facebook that Thailand had attacked Cambodian army positions at two temple locations in Oddar Meanchey province, as well as sites in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province and Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani province. "Cambodia has always maintained a position of peaceful resolution of problems, but in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against armed aggression," the Prime Minister declared while urging Cambodian citizens to remain calm.

The escalation injured at least two Thai soldiers Thursday, while three civilians were wounded in the crossfire, according to CNN. Two hospitals in Thailand's Surin province began evacuating patients as fighting continued near the clash sites, Thailand's ministry of public health confirmed.

Thursday's armed confrontation followed a devastating incident just one day earlier when a second Thai soldier in a week lost his leg to a landmine explosion at a different point along the disputed border. Five Thai soldiers were injured in that blast, prompting Thailand to immediately downgrade diplomatic relations with Cambodia by recalling its ambassador from Phnom Penh and expelling the Cambodian ambassador, CNN reported.

Thailand also closed sections of its northeastern border to both local residents and tourists as tensions reached their breaking point. Cambodia responded by announcing it had downgraded relations with Thailand "to the lowest level" and ordered all diplomatic staff to return home immediately.

The current crisis builds on mounting tensions that began in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops in the contested Emerald Triangle region where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos converge. Both sides opened fire in that incident, which has since triggered major political consequences for Thailand and inflamed nationalist sentiment in both countries, according to CNN.

Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra now faces potential dismissal after being suspended from duties earlier this month following the leak of a phone call with Cambodia's powerful former leader in which she appeared to criticize her own army's actions in the border dispute. The leaked conversation has added domestic political turmoil to the international crisis.

The two nations share a complex relationship marked by both cooperation and rivalry across recent decades. Their 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border was largely mapped by French colonial authorities during their occupation of Cambodia, creating boundary lines that have periodically sparked military clashes and political tensions between the neighbors.

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The evaluation, which forms part of the Trump administration's continuing efforts to assess Iran's nuclear program status following the facility strikes, was presented to certain US legislators, Defense Department personnel and allied nations in recent days, four of those sources confirmed to NBC News.

NBC News has also discovered that US Central Command had formulated a far more extensive plan to attack Iran that would have involved targeting three additional locations in an operation spanning several weeks rather than a single evening, according to one current US official and two former US officials.

President Donald Trump received briefings on that comprehensive plan, but it was ultimately rejected because it conflicted with his foreign policy instincts to withdraw the United States from international conflicts rather than deepen involvement, along with the potential for significant casualties on both sides, one current official and one former official explained to NBC News.

"We were willing to go all the way in our options, but the president did not want to," one source with knowledge of the plan stated.

In remarks delivered in the hours following the strikes, Trump characterized the attacks he authorized as "a spectacular military success" and declared, "Iran's key enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."

The actual situation as determined through intelligence gathering appears more complex. Should the preliminary findings regarding the damage inflicted on Iran's nuclear program prove accurate as additional intelligence emerges, the United States might find itself returning to conflict in the region.

Discussions have taken place within both American and Israeli governments regarding whether additional strikes on the two less-damaged facilities might be required if Iran fails to agree soon to restart negotiations with the Trump administration on a nuclear agreement or if signs emerge that Iran is attempting to rebuild at those locations, one current official and one former official told NBC News. Iran has consistently maintained its nuclear program serves purely peaceful, civilian purposes.

The recent assessment represents a current snapshot of the damage US strikes caused amid an intelligence-collection process that administration officials have indicated will continue for months. Evaluations of Iran's nuclear program following the US strikes are anticipated to evolve over time, and according to two current officials, as the process advances, the findings suggest greater damage than previous assessments indicated. That assessment remains the current understanding of the strikes' impact, officials confirmed to NBC News.

"As the President has said and experts have verified, Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC News in a statement. "America and the world are safer, thanks to his decisive action."

In his own statement, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declared to NBC News: "The credibility of the Fake News Media is similar to that of the current state of the Iranian nuclear facilities: destroyed, in the dirt, and will take years to recover. President Trump was clear and the American people understand: Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were completely and totally obliterated. There is no doubt about that."

He added, "Operation Midnight Hammer was a significant blow to Iran's nuclear capabilities thanks to the decisive action of President Trump and the bravery of every man and woman in uniform who supported this mission."

Destruction and deterrence

The US strikes targeted three enrichment facilities in Iran: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. US officials believe the assault on Fordo, which has long been considered a critical element of Iran's nuclear ambitions, succeeded in setting back Iranian enrichment capabilities at that location by as much as two years, according to two current officials who spoke to NBC News.

Much of the administration's public communications about the strikes has concentrated on Fordo. In a Pentagon briefing conducted in response to reporting on an initial Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that concluded Iran's nuclear program had been delayed by only three to six months, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke extensively about the Fordo strike but not the attacks at Natanz and Isfahan.

US officials knew prior to the airstrikes that Iran possessed structures and enriched uranium at Natanz and Isfahan that were likely beyond the reach of even America's 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) GBU-57 "bunker buster" bombs, three sources told NBC News. Those bombs, which had never been deployed in combat before the strikes, were designed specifically with the deeply buried facilities carved into mountain sides at Fordo in mind.

As early as 2023, however, indications emerged that Iran was constructing tunnels at Natanz that extended below where the GBU-57 could penetrate. Deep underground tunnels also exist at Isfahan. The United States struck surface targets at Isfahan with Tomahawk missiles and did not deploy GBU-57s there, but utilized them at Natanz.

White House officials directed NBC News to a closed-door briefing conducted in late June by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who informed lawmakers that Iran's nuclear program was "severely damaged" and that several key nuclear facilities were "completely destroyed," according to an administration official's description of the briefing provided to NBC News. Ratcliffe stated the only metal conversion facility at Natanz, required for nuclear enrichment, was destroyed to the point that it would take "years to rebuild," according to a White House official authorized to describe portions of the classified briefing.

Ratcliffe also indicated that the intelligence community believes the strikes buried the vast majority of enriched uranium at Isfahan and Fordo and that therefore it would be extremely difficult for the Iranians to extract it to resume enrichment, according to the official who spoke to NBC News. The United States has not observed indications that Iran is attempting to excavate the facilities, two officials confirmed.

As NBC News has reported, the Israeli government believes at least some of Iran's highly enriched uranium remains intact but buried beneath the Isfahan facility, according to a senior Israeli government official who briefed reporters in Washington last week. The official stated, however, that Israel considers the material effectively unreachable, because it is monitoring and will conduct new strikes if it believes Iran is attempting to dig up the uranium. The official also indicated Israel believes Iran's nuclear program has been set back by up to two years.

Similarly, even if the targeted Iranian nuclear sites were not completely destroyed, US officials and Republican supporters of the operation consider it successful because it has altered the strategic equation for Iran. From their perspective, the regime in Tehran now faces a credible threat of additional airstrikes if Israel and the United States believe it is attempting to revive clandestine nuclear work.

Asked late last month whether he would consider bombing Iran again if intelligence reports concluded Iran can enrich uranium at a level that concerns him, Trump responded: "Sure. Without question. Absolutely."

Iran's air defenses have been largely eliminated, making it virtually impossible for Iran to defend against further strikes on facilities in the future, the White House official stated to NBC News.

"It was made clear that Iran no longer has any more [air defenses], so the idea that they can easily rebuild anything is ludicrous," the White House official said.

The 'all-in' plan

Beginning during the Biden administration, as early as last fall and continuing into this spring, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, had developed a plan to go "all-in" on striking Iran, according to a current US official and two former officials who spoke to NBC News. That option was designed to "truly decimate" Iran's nuclear capabilities, in the words of one former official.

Under the plan, the United States would have struck six sites. The reasoning was that the six sites would need to be hit repeatedly to inflict the kind of damage necessary to completely end the program, people familiar with the thinking told NBC News. The plan would also have involved targeting more of Iran's air defense and ballistic missile capabilities, and planners projected it could result in a high number of Iranian casualties. US officials expected that if that were to occur, Iran would target American positions, for example in Iraq and Syria, a person familiar with the plan explained to NBC News.

"It would be a protracted air campaign," the person said.

Some Trump administration officials believed a deeper offensive option against Iran was a viable policy, two former officials told NBC News.

Trump was briefed on the so-called all-in plan, but it was ultimately rejected because it would have required a sustained period of conflict.

The history

During his first term, in 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers that was negotiated during the Obama administration. The agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, imposed strict limitations on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.

Under the deal, Iran was a year away from obtaining enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb. After Trump withdrew from the accord and reimposed sanctions, Iran violated restrictions on its uranium enrichment. Before the June airstrikes, the regime had enough fissile material for about nine to 10 bombs, according to US officials and United Nations inspectors who spoke to NBC News.

Trump has since sought a new agreement with Iran that would prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Indirect talks between US and Iranian officials failed to secure a deal before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

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Airstrikes attributed to Israel near Homs in central Syria overnight Tuesday resulted in two civilian deaths and at least six wounded, Syrian media reported.

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The SANA news agency claimed early Wednesday morning that two civilians had been killed in the strikes and that six Syrian soldiers and a civilian had been wounded.

Syrian state television said that the strikes were carried out by Israel and had targeted a few different sites in central Syria, causing material damage. Other Syrian reports said the strikes had targeted a shipment of weapons destined for Hezbollah as well as Syrian anti-aircraft systems.

"An Israeli air aggression targeted parts of the central region, and the air defenses are responding," state media claimed.

No comment was forthcoming from Israel.

A Syrian military official told SANA that at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday, a few points in central Syria had been attacked from the direction of northeast Beirut. Other Arab reports also said that the strikes had been carried out from eastern Lebanese air space and that targets included what was reported to be a "research institute" and a number of sites affiliated with pro-Iranian militias.

The Syrian official said that Syrian air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles. One Syrian anti-aircraft missile missed its target and crossed into Israeli airspace, detonating off the coast of Haifa, Israel's N12 news site reported Wednesday.

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At least two members of pro-Iranian militias operating in Syria were killed in strikes military assets belonging to Hezbollah, pro-Iranian militias, and Iran's Quds Force on Friday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this weekend.

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On Friday night, an unnamed military official told Syrian state news that an airstrike had taken place shortly after 9 p.m. near Homs and that it reached as far as the military's T4 airbase in the desert.

The Observatory said that the strike had damaged a drone instruction center and a military base.

The Syrian report mentioned that six individuals had been wounded, but did not cite fatalities.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the military area of Al-Tanf with bursts of missiles towards the T-4 military airport in the central region," the military source said, adding that the air defenses had brought down most of the missiles.

Cham FM Radio also reported airstrikes in rural areas of Homs province, near the Syrian T4 military air base in the desert. The state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV described the strikes as an Israeli aggression.

No comment on the reported strike was forthcoming from Israel.

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Alleged US strikes hit Iranian militias in the Syria-Iraq border earlier this week, according to reports, although the US has denied involvement.

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Explosions were heard in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province, in the area of Al Bukamal, on Tuesday, said the Britain-based watchdog group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said the US struck the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi Shiite fighters, who were "securing the Syrian-Iraqi border strip."

The group said it does not operate outside of Iraq when asked about the incident by Newsweek magazine.

The attacks damaged three cars and four thermal cameras, with no casualties, SANA reported.

Four separate strikes by drones destroyed the vehicles, which had recently arrived from Iraq, the Observatory said.

The US has hit Iranian-backed Shiite militias along the Syrian border with Iraq in the past, although Pentagon officials denied US involvement.

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US Army Col. Wayne Morotto told Newsweek the US "did not conduct airstrikes in Al-Bukamal, September 14, 2021."

Israel has stated it will not tolerate Iranian activity in Syria, and is also frequently blamed for attacks on Iran-backed Shiite groups in Syria, although it rarely comments on these strikes.

One alleged attack reportedly killed four pro-Iranian fighters on August 20.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Airstrikes on pro-Iranian militia targets in northeastern Syria were reported overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday by media outlets affiliated with Syria's rebel forces.

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The reports said the strikes were carried out near the village of Bukamal near the Syria-Iraq border and had been carried out by American forces.

Two large explosions were heard at a border operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that serves as a gateway for ammunition being shipped to the pro-Iranian militias in Syria, as well as Iranian military personnel and advanced weaponry destined for the Syrian forces loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran.

As of Wednesday morning, there were no reports of casualties or damage at the target site and there were no details about the aircraft that launched the strikes.

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Overnight airstrikes near Damascus and Homs activated Syria's air defenses, Syrian state news agency SANA reported overnight. Syrian sources attributed the strikes to Israel.

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An army source told SANA that shortly after 11 p.m., Israel launched airstrikes on the Damascus and Homs regions that targeted sites affiliated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iranian militias west of Damascus.

A Syrian military source called the incident "an air aggression" by "the Israeli enemy."

News outlets in Lebanon also reported that six missiles had been fired from Lebanese airspace at targets used by Iran's Quds Force near Damascus. The Lebanese reports said that two of the six missiles had been intercepted and the remaining four fell in open areas, causing minimal damage.

The attacks were reportedly initiated from the airspace above Beirut, prompting Lebanon's Defense Minister Zaina Akar to condemn the attack.

The aggression "flagrantly violated Lebanese airspace at low altitude and caused a state of panic among the citizens," she said, added that she had filed a complaint in international bodies.

Akar also called on the UN to deter Israel from carrying out airstrikes on Syria using Lebanese airspace.

i24NEWS contributed to this report 

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Israel erred in thinking that Hezbollah would allow Israel to strike terrorist targets in Lebanon without any retaliation, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday night in a speech marking 15 years since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

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On Friday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at the Israeli Golan Heights and Kiryat Shmona. The rockets headed toward populated areas were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, while others were allowed to fall in open areas.

Hezbollah said that Friday's attack was a response to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon earlier in the week, which came in response to previous cross-border rocket fire on Israel.

Video: Al-Manar TV via Reuters

"This is a dangerous development," Nasrallah warned. "Israel was wrong in calculating that we would let their airstrikes go without a response. We are brave enough to claim responsibility for our actions."

Nasrallah said he "salutes everyone who has stood by on in our years of battle against the Israeli enemy. Our main responsibility now is to maintain the successes of the resistance. Our biggest strategic victory is the Second Lebanon War. Since then, Israel has not carried out airstrikes in Lebanon, thanks to the deterrence we created. In the 15 years that have passed, Lebanon has seen calm and security like it hasn't since 1948."

The Hezbollah leader went on to say that Israel was "afraid to attack in Lebanon because of the war's domestic consequences" and "because of their army."

"Israel is more afraid for its existence than ever before because of what is happening in Palestine and because the axis of resistance is growing stronger. Our message to Israel is that when they strike open territory – so will we. Any Israeli airstrike in Lebanon will be met with an appropriate, proportional response," Nasrallah added, claiming that Israel was trying to "violate" a long-standing balance.

"We always used to say that we are not looking for war and we don't want war but we are ready for it," he said.

Nasrallah also warned Israel not to "miscalculate by saying that Hezbollah is busy with Lebanon's problems."

Nasrallah also discussed an incident Friday in which Druze residents of the village Chouya stopped a Hezbollah rocket launching crew and detained them until the Lebanon Army could arrive, claiming that the Shiite organization was endangering the residents' lives by firing at Israel from civilian areas.

Nasrallah called the incident "disgraceful" and said, "If we could fire on the same [Israeli] area from Shiite concentrations or from our homes, we wouldn't fire from your area."

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The Hezbollah terrorist group responded for the first time to airstrikes on Syria attributed to Israel this week.

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In a statement, the pro-Iranian group said: "The Zionist planes violated Lebanese sovereignty anew and struck Syrian lands through our air space in the shadow of international organizations' silence. What happened last night is an aggression on the part of the Zionist enemy's aircraft on Lebanese and Syrian soil."

The Shiite group continued: "We stand with our people in … the villages damaged as a result of the recent Zionist aggression. We ask Allah to protect Lebanon from the Zionist aggression that can only be withstood through resistance.

The organization noted it was only "divine providence" that only material damage was sustained and a massacre did not take place.

Syrian media outlets reported an Israeli airstrike in the al-Qusair area in the Homs province early Thursday. It was the second reported Israeli airstrike in Syria this week.

According to the reports, Syrian air defenses engaged fighter jets that entered the country's airspace from Lebanon.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor group, said the attack targeted military installations belonging to Hezbollah as well as other pro-Iranian militia, and members of Iran's clandestine Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at the al-Sharyat military airport east of Homs city.

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