Daily Briefing June 8 – Iran fires on Israel, reigniting smoldering war

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

WATCH the full episode here:

Iran fired a volley of missiles at northern Israel Sunday night, catapulting the region back to the cusp of all-out war after two months of a shaky ceasefire, with Israel initially vowing to respond before US President Donald Trump attempted to limit the fallout and keep truce negotiations with Tehran on track. Israel responded overnight and we’re recording on Monday morning.

We roll back time and give the background and context for the IDF’s strikes on Beirut — ostensibly Iran’s trigger for sending some dozen ballistic missiles to Israel last night.

Fabian fills us in on a massive subterranean bunker that Hezbollah — with Iran’s help — carved into a mountain near the iconic Beaufort Castle that sits close to the border with Israel. We learn there are more such sites in southern Lebanon that the IDF has not yet reached.

Hours before the renewed Iran strikes, an Arab Israeli terrorist opened fire in several locations in a shooting spree in central Israel on Sunday, killing an IDF reservist who served as a civil defense squad member, and wounding five other people, before he was shot dead by security forces. Fabian gives us a recap.

And finally, we close the program with a look inside news that broke late last week: For the first time, a female combat soldier completed training in the Israeli military’s Sayeret Matkal commando unit. What does this mean for the elite unit?

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Iran fires missiles at Israel for first time in two months; Trump tells Netanyahu not to retaliate

IDF strikes Beirut’s Dahiyeh after Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel

Israeli man killed, five hurt in central Israel terror shooting spree by Arab Israeli

In first, female IDF combat soldier completes training for elite Sayeret Matkal unit

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

Check out yesterday’s episode here:

Today’s Transcript:

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing. Today is Monday, June 8. I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan from Jerusalem, joined by our military correspondent Emanuel Fabian. Mannie, thank you so much for joining me today.

Emanuel Fabian: Hi, Amanda. Good morning.

Borschel-Dan: The war has apparently begun again between Iran and Israel as Iran struck Israel yesterday in retaliation, it said, for strikes that Israel conducted in Beirut. We are going to hear what’s been happening until now. I will just lift the curtain. This is early Monday morning, and please check our live blog for more recent updates. But we are going to hear the impetus for this strike, the so-called impetus, and what has been happening so far. All of this and more when we’re back.

And we’re back. I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan here with our military correspondent Emanuel Fabian. Schools across the country were closed last night after Iran announced that it had begun striking Israel. Mannie, the impetus, at least what they’re saying is the impetus, were strikes on Beirut. So let’s roll it back a little bit in the timeline and talk about these strikes on Beirut.

Israel’s strikes on Beirut and Iran; Iran fires missiles at northern Israel

Fabian: Okay, so to go back, with a bit of context, we’re talking about the ongoing ceasefire in Lebanon, the very porous ceasefire where both sides are kind of attacking each other still. But there was a ceasefire that was announced, I think it was on Wednesday, sort of an extension to the ceasefire. Israel said that if Hezbollah carries out any attacks on Israel during the ceasefire, then Israel will respond with strikes against the terror group in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Dahieh area. And then basically over the following days from the ceasefire extension, there were attacks on troops in southern Lebanon, soldiers were killed, the Israeli army continued its strikes on Hezbollah, but no attacks on Israel. And then on Sunday morning, two rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel; both were intercepted. And in response, later in the afternoon, the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike on a Hezbollah command center in southern Beirut. The strike reportedly killed two people and wounded others in the area. I would say a relatively minor strike. It really was only one site in Beirut. Nothing major.

It wasn’t an assassination of any Hezbollah commanders, but that’s what Israel said. Israel vowed it would respond to any attacks on northern Israel. And of course, Iran said that any attacks on Beirut would result in it responding as well. And then, of course, several hours later, at around 10 p.m., Iran launched around 10 ballistic missiles at Israel over the course of around 45 minutes to an hour. Israel said it intercepted pretty much all of the missiles. There were no reports of direct impacts anywhere, any injuries, or any damage caused by the missile fire. And then overnight, Israel responded with its own strikes on Iran, despite [US President Donald] Trump urging Israel not to respond to Iran’s attacks. And then this morning, in response to the Israeli attacks, Iran launched more missiles at Israel. Israel reported shooting down all of those as well, with no reports of injuries or damage. And the latest we have is that Israel has conducted more strikes in Iran targeting a petrochemical facility in the southwest.

Borschel-Dan: And that Israel was indeed hit in one part of greater Israel, shall we say, correct?

Fabian: There was a missile fragment that landed this morning in the West Bank. Some damage was caused to nearby homes. I wouldn’t call it very, very significant damage. Definitely will take time to clean up, but it wasn’t a direct impact, as far as the army says. It was a missile that was shot down, and then the fragments hit an open field, and then the blast from that caused some damage to nearby homes.

Israel’s decision to retaliate against Iranian missiles

Borschel-Dan: So let’s roll it back a little bit. We just had a very action-packed 12 hours, shall we say — 11 hours, in terms of when we’re recording, from the minute that Iran started launching until now. And as you mentioned, US President Donald Trump told Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], or said he was going to tell Bibi, at least widely told the press that he is telling our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate. Of course, in weeks past, or throughout the entire conflict between the US and Iran, he has made it very clear, Trump, that any targeting of US sites or ships will be met with strong retaliation. And our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the decision to retaliate. So what are the actual steps before a retaliation? He has to convene the security cabinet, correct, Mannie? And that happened last night, is that correct?

Fabian: Well, no, not necessarily. I think because we’re already considered in a war, he doesn’t really need to convene the security cabinet to decide on a response. We know that from the moment Iran launched its attack, the Israeli army was already drawing up plans for a response. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir held an assessment with senior officials where they decided on, sort of, what courses of action they were going to take. And then Netanyahu obviously spoke with Zamir, and there was a small meeting of a few top ministers, the Defense Minister [Israel Katz] and others, not the full security cabinet. Where they then were presented with the military’s options for response and decided on which course to take. We interestingly heard from Zamir last night saying that the army is ready to respond but is waiting for “the green light”. Does that mean green light from Netanyahu, from the political level, or perhaps above him, which is the US administration, which appears to be the one dictating Israel’s security policy recently? But despite Trump telling Netanyahu not to respond, Israel did anyway.

And I think it was a big sort of test moment for Israel, whether or not it would respond or not, because if it didn’t, that would embolden Iran even more that it can launch attacks on Israel and then not actually receive any response. But of course, there is the bigger picture here, which is, is this going to derail the talks between the US and Iran regarding this ceasefire that will hopefully see Iran’s nuclear program being shut down? But, of course, we don’t know exactly where that’s going now because the war might actually be back on.

Borschel-Dan: Right. And it’s very difficult to know whether it would be derailing anything that was indeed on track because, of course, the rhetoric has been that for the past several weeks that any minute now, any second, any day, this week, definitely there will be an end to these negotiations. So, Mannie, this is the first time in two months that Israel has been targeted by ballistic missiles from Iran. But it’s hardly the first time in the past several months that another country outside of Iran has been targeted. Iran has indeed been striking Gulf states, including Kuwait, which is a bit of a new wrinkle in the past week or so. And the war, as it stands, has been in ceasefire, officially; in terms of Israel has not been striking Iran, and the US has been very quietly or very low-key striking back at Iran. But this is obviously a significant escalation. And no one can predict the future. As I mentioned, schools are officially closed throughout the country today. But have you heard anything else coming from the Home Front Command, which can maybe give us a bit of a picture as to where Israel thinks the war is going?

Future of war with Iran

Fabian: So the Home Front Command’s guidelines remain in effect. They’ll conduct another assessment, probably today as well, to decide whether or not to reopen things. Taking away from the Home Front Command for a second, an indication to me that this might not last as long as we think is the fact that the skies are still open. The Transportation Ministry said that the skies will remain open. As far as I understand, flights are still coming in and out. Whether or not certain airlines will start canceling again is another question, but the Israeli airlines, the ones that obviously want to make all the money, without naming any names, are going to continue flying, even though we are kind of back at war or in some sort of escalation right now. Of course, I can’t predict the future of what’s going to happen, but it’s possible that this lasts only a few days or even less. It really depends on whether or not Trump thinks he’s going to reach a deal or not. If Trump thinks that he’s about to reach a deal with Iran, then he’ll try to put a stop to Israel’s striking back at Iran over the missile fire.

If Trump does not think that a deal is actually imminent, he could change his mind very quickly, then he may sort of give Israel the green light to continue striking at Iran, and then the war will kind of resume in one way or another. I think those are the two main options that we’ll see.

Borschel-Dan: Let’s go to a short break.

And we’re back. I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan, and here with our military correspondent Emanuel Fabian. Mannie, let’s talk about what’s happening in Lebanon. We mentioned, of course, the strikes that ostensibly, at least, Iran is using as the trigger for its strikes on Israel. But what is happening in southern Lebanon? Last week, all the headlines were filled with the capture of Beaufort Castle, a very significant, symbolic at least, position in southern Lebanon. What has happened since then?

Hezbollah’s tunnel system in southern Lebanon

Fabian: So the army has actually now revealed why it captured the Beaufort Castle area. And it’s not because it’s a nice tourist site. It is, obviously, but the main reason is that on the same ridge as the castle is a very, very significant Hezbollah tunnel system. And the army revealed footage of it yesterday, just before the Iranian attacks. It’s located just a few kilometers from Metula, the northernmost town. And the army says it’s now working to demolish the underground site. It says it was established with Iranian assistance, Iranian planning, and funding about a decade ago. It’s very similar to other Iranian, built-ish tunnels that we’ve seen in South Lebanon. They’re not like Hamas’s tunnels. These are much bigger systems, not in terms of the actual sort of length of the tunnel system, but inside, they’re not these cramped, with the concrete arches that you see in Gaza. We’re talking tunnels that are built into the rock. You can drive cars through them in some of the areas. You have big, wide rooms that can fit at least 100 people.

Really significant — I would call it more of an underground base than a tunnel system. So this is yet another one that the army’s located. It obviously knew about it in advance, and that’s why it raided the area. There are other tunnel systems like this in the area that Israel has not yet reached and would like to reach as well to demolish them to prevent, obviously, any attempt in the future by Hezbollah to stage attacks from the area on northern Israel.

Borschel-Dan: Right. The footage that we have on social media and on the site from this, I would call it a bunker base kind of situation, definitely not a tunnel. I think anyone who says tunnel these days is really thinking about the Hamas tunnels, where you can barely walk through the passageway. But no, this is almost on the level of an underground complex more than anything. And it’s so kitted out. And obviously, they had supplies. They were ready to be there for the duration. It is chilling to the bone to see this happening a few kilometers from the border. And you’re saying that there are other complexes like this that Israel knows about and hasn’t quite reached yet, Mannie?

Fabian: Yeah, back in 2024, during the sort of the initial war with Hezbollah, I got to visit one of these underground bases. There’s a story on the site from back then. It was really quite astonishing how kitted out these places are. There are bathrooms and kitchens. The army reported that in this one that they just found, there was even an operating room, literally like a medical facility inside this underground base. There were anti-tank and anti-aircraft capabilities in the area. Like you mentioned, living quarters with bunk beds and everything. It’s basically an underground base. Iran helped Hezbollah build several of these in southern Lebanon. So I think this is the third or fourth one that the army is now officially revealing and will obviously work to demolish. It will take a lot of explosives. The last one that the army found in the Qantara area, they used hundreds of tons of explosives to demolish it because it was built into a rocky mountain. It’s not like Hamas’s tunnels that are built a few meters under the sand. So it’s a completely different ball game here.

And like I said, there are others similar to this in the area, some where the army’s operating, some that are slightly deeper. To reach those, obviously, the army would need to expand its operations, but Israel would like to reach them and demolish them as well. The army also noted that with this tunnel system, it actually notified the Lebanese army of the site, but it was unable to operate near it. Hezbollah prevented the Lebanese army from reaching it. So that’s a bit of a problem if the Lebanese army can’t really exercise its authority in south Lebanon. And that’s why the army said it launched its raid there to reach it itself.

Borshel-Dan: Right. And for the army itself, it wasn’t just a walk in the park, as far as I understand, hearing from certain soldiers who are in the field. But Mannie, this bunker, the last time we exploded a bunker of this sort, we actually felt the tremors afterwards, if I’m not mistaken, correct? It actually registered in terms of a mini earthquake and on the Richter scale, correct?

Fabian: Yeah, that happened. So the tunnel that I visited in 2024 did actually set off the earthquake sirens in the North when they blew it up. The army learned a lesson from that, and ahead of time, when it blew up the last one about a month or so ago, it sort of coordinated with the authorities, the Home Front Command that sets off the siren, but also the geological authority, they’re the ones that detect the earthquakes. They made sure in advance basically to notify them that, “Look, we’re going to blow something up, you want to register it, so don’t obviously set out an alarm.” That’s probably what will happen again this time when the army demolishes it. They will make sure not to scare anybody, that there’s an earthquake when it’s not really an earthquake.

Terrorist attack in northern Israel

Borshel-Dan: Mannie, yesterday there was a terrorist attack inside the borders of Israel, and let’s briefly recap what happened there before it is completely overshadowed by the news of the uptick in the war.

Fabian: Right, so yesterday morning, an Arab-Israeli terrorist from Tayibe. It’s a central town. He set out from his home with a makeshift submachine gun in his vehicle, and he drove around to several Israeli or Jewish majority communities in the area and opened fire on several people. He first opened fire at people at a gas station near Kochav Yair, wounding two people there. He then shot at people at the entrance of Tzur Yitzhak, which is nearby, and then also two other people near Tzur Natan, which is another nearby community. During all of this shooting, one person was killed. He was a reservist, Haim Kalomiti. He served as a regional defense soldier. So he was recruited by the army to defend his community because Tzur Natan is very close to the West Bank security barrier. Obviously, this attack didn’t come from the West Bank. It wasn’t carried out by a Palestinian from the West Bank, but rather by an Israeli citizen. The security coordinator, also for Tzur Natan, was wounded as well in the attack. And this terrorist, after shooting and wounding all these people, he kept on driving around.

He tries to reach the settlement of Sal’it, which is nearby. It’s not over the security barrier. It’s still kind of within Israel. You don’t need to cross any checkpoints to reach it. There, he exchanged fire with the security guard at the entrance to the settlement. He fled then again, and then the police eventually caught up with him near Tayibe and shot him dead in another exchange of fire. The whole shooting spree lasted about half an hour in total, from the moment he began opening fire to the moment he was shot dead. It obviously resulted in one person killed and five others injured.

First female soldier in elite Sayeret Matkal unit

Borschel-Dan: Now, to close with, we’re going to again leave our borders, and there have been reports that over the past two months plus of war, Israel has been operating in foreign countries, including Iraq and Azerbaijan. Now, the forces that would be sent out there, hypothetically speaking, we’re not confirming these are true, could be forces from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. Now, the Israeli media was full of headlines last week when the first female combat soldier finished the year-and-a-half training for the Sayeret Matkal unit. Explain to us a little bit more where exactly she stands in terms of the process.

Fabian: So, about a year and a half ago or a bit longer, the army opened up a pilot program in Sayeret Matkal for women to serve there as part of these ongoing efforts to open up more roles for female fighters. Sayeret Matkal is a very difficult unit to get into for men, let alone for women, and therefore, only one woman really passed the preliminary screenings and met the criteria needed for actually serving in the Sayeret Matkal unit. She carried out a training track that is different from what the men did because obviously, she’s just her, and it’s been adapted basically for her situation. It’s not to say that it was easier for her or anything like that, and it’s not to say that she’s less trained than anybody else; it’s just a slightly different training track for her. But she completed it, a year and a half of training, and now she has completed her training for Sayeret Matkal, and the army is now deciding on how to integrate her into the unit. And to serve alongside the male soldiers in the unit.

If you recall, we had something similar with the female soldiers who are now in Yahalom, the elite combat engineering unit. They also conducted a slightly different training track, and the army integrated them into the unit, and they’re doing different tasks than the men. They’re not doing the exact same tasks. As far as I understand, in their case, it’s mainly minesweeping and bomb disposal. Things of that nature. Because it’s Sayeret Matkal, it’s a very secretive unit, so it’s unlikely we’ll ever really hear exactly what this woman is doing in the unit in terms of operational activity, but it’s unlikely that she’ll be doing the exact same tasks as the men because that’s obviously not a very practical way of thinking about it. The army is trying as much as it can to open up more roles to women, to allow them to serve if they can meet the criteria, if they can pass all the training. But it’s also adapting its roles in a way that it can utilize women better in these units. So not just in Sayeret Matkal, but also in the combat engineering and in other units, the army is realizing that it can actually take advantage of the capabilities that women have to give them roles that are more suited for them.

Borschel-Dan: So as long as the separate activities that she’s tasked with aren’t making coffee and bringing biscuits, I think we’re fine. But it is a bit of a controversial situation here, indeed, among even fighters within the army. You said that she was given an adapted training program, and the training program is, I would imagine, just one of the toughest in the world, perhaps. And so are you hearing voices from the army “Not fair that she gets special adaptation. Why don’t you give special adaptation to other people?” What’s happening here? I mean, Sayeret Matkal, just to explain to our listeners, is really just the top of the top. And so it is a bit controversial, this situation. Mannie, what are your thoughts here?

Fabian: My thought is that it’s great that the army is taking advantage of women who want to serve in elite units. I don’t think there’s any shortage of women who want to serve in elite units. I think the fact that only one woman passed all the preliminary screenings and training shows that very few women can actually do this. And I don’t think they made the track easy for her. I don’t think they gave her an easier training compared to the men. I think they gave her a different training because her role in the unit will be different from the men’s. I think it’s unrealistic to expect women to be able to do the same things that men can do in these contexts. Obviously, there are women who can do these things, and I’m sure there are plenty of female fighters who are better than men in many areas. But the army is looking at it in a way where it’s saying we don’t have dozens of women who will be able to serve in the same roles as men do in this elite unit, but we can get women to serve in a slightly different role in the unit, or in other positions in the military so let’s take advantage of that and utilize their power as much as possible.

And that’s why she was given a slightly different training track than the men. Obviously not easier. I don’t think I could do that kind of thing. I don’t think anybody could do it. The average person could do that kind of thing. So I don’t think they gave her any discounts during this training. And it remains to be seen if more women will join. I think that there will be more women who will be able to pass these screenings and get through the military, but in very, very few numbers. I don’t think we’re going to see a whole female team of fighters in Sayeret Matkal anytime soon, just because it’s such a difficult unit to get into, to begin with, and to even get through all the training. Most men fall out of the training as it is. I think the fact that she made it through all of this is a great achievement and obviously looks good for the future.

Borschel-Dan: Mannie, thank you so much for all of this. And obviously, listeners, please keep an eye on the live blog for current updates. Things are changing very quickly, and please keep an eye on what’s happening on the site. Mannie, thank you so much for joining me today.

Fabian: Thank you.

Borschel-Dan: Thanks for listening to the Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing. Please check out another episode tomorrow. If you have any questions or comments about this or any other episode, please drop us an email to podcast@timesofisrael.com. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht. Until tomorrow, shalom.