Israel announced multiple incoming attacks early Thursday and said it was intercepting the missiles. The Israeli military says it began new strikes in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The Israeli general has long been focused on the threat from Iran and its proxies, and has called for a regional alliance against the country.

MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday accused the United States and Israel of trying to drag Arab countries into a wider Middle East conflict by provoking Iran into striking targets across the region and said there was no sign Washington and Tel Aviv would let up.

Newsweek has created a list recording every country where a strike has been reported in the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Israeli officials appear less concerned with such planning than with destroying Iranian regime capabilities. Israeli forces alone have deployed more force against Iran in four days than in 12 days of conflict last June, fought largely without the US.

Airstrikes have targeted organizations responsible for suppressing protests and cracking down on separatists, though analysts are skeptical the strategy will work.

In Washington late on Wednesday, Republican senators blocked a motion aimed at stopping the U.S. air campaign against Iran and requiring that military action be authorized by Congress. That rejection leaves President Donald Trump's power to direct the war largely unbound, as the conflict continues to widen across the Middle East and beyond.

Israeli forces struck a meeting of Iran’s Supreme Council on Tuesday as officials gathered to choose a successor to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a source said.