Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israel is “prepared for an extremely powerful action in the north,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on June 5 during a visit to the settlement of Kiryat Shmona on the border with Lebanon, where fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has escalated significantly in recent weeks.
“Whoever thinks that he can harm us and we will sit with our hands clasped has made a major mistake,” said Netanyahu.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip last October, Hezbollah and its allies began launching near-daily attacks against the IDF in support of the Hamas Movement and other armed factions in the Palestinian enclave.
Large fires broke out in several parts of northern Israel earlier this week, mainly as a result of rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah.
“The ground burned yesterday and I am happy you put it out,” Netanyahu told firefighters, “but the ground also burned in Lebanon.”
Netanyahu also met with IDF forces from Brigade 769 to discuss operations against Hezbollah during the visit to northern Israel.
A day earlier, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said that Israel was close to making a decision regarding Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel.
“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision,” Halevi said during an assessment with military officials and Fire Commissioner Eyal Caspi, at an army base in Kiryat Shmona.
“We have been attacking for eight months, and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. It has increased its strength in recent days and we are prepared after a very good process of training… to move to an attack in the north,” he added.
Also on June 4, United States State Department spokesman Matthew Miller characterized tensions between Israel and Hezbollah as “extremely dangerous.”
The spokesman said that Washington was working to contain the clashes between the two sides so that it doesn’t escalate to a full-fledged war.
Miller reiterates that a ceasefire in Gaza “would help us reach calm in northern Israel and southern Lebanon,” which could lead to a long-term agreement that would allow the tens of thousands of Israeli evacuees to return to their homes on the northern border.
Some media reports over the past few days said Lebanon had received a warning from Israel about its intention to wage a large-scale attack against Hezbollah through diplomatic channels. However, this was denied by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
A statement released by the Lebanese Council of Ministers on June 4 said that the prime minister rejects such news, adding that the circulated news aims at exerting pressure on Lebanon.
Mikati also assured that he is conducting a wide range of diplomatic contacts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon.
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border have so far resulted in ten civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of at least 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. On the Lebanese side, more than 400 people have been killed, including 312 fighters of Hezbollah and at least 80 civilians.
Hezbollah’s top officials, including the group’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, warned more than once that attacks against Israel from Lebanon will not end before the war on Gaza is over. Any further escalation by Israel could lead to a full-fledged war with Hezbollah, and this may be just what Netanyahu wants to further secure his position.
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keep opening more fronts. israel is as predictable like the amerikans. being so predictable only means one thing: you have run out of options
gaza, west bank, lebanon…keep opening your orifices israel, they are ripe for the pounding. you are uniting everybody against you. and you are too narcissist to see what your problem is
“inching toward war”?… gee… you could have fooled me.
given the carnage of the last 40 years alone that has seen hundreds of thousands of death in lebanon i think it’s been non-stop for them as well as syria. perhaps we should say that the “war with i$rael” started with that explosion just two years ago that was labeled some sort of accident that was anything but…
russia take notes.
libanon as not even a country.
than we will see what happens when ten thousands of hisbollah rockets fly to israel. and this would also be bad news for ukros, because with a new big war in and around israel, usa and eu would send theyr main support to israel, leaving less for ukros.
apparently the american jets are more effective at killing than the iranian rockets. russia needs to put in anti-aircraft missile defense systems in lebanon. one major difference is hezbollah doesn’t shoot off most of its rockets and israel evacuated the towns in the north. how can you evacuate an area indefinitely and function as a legitimate territory of a country? rogue state!
hamas is losing, badly, and when they have been defeated/killed/captured/surrender, then its on to lebanon to end hezbollah. if they’re smart they will stop shooting, and make permanent peace with israel. but, they’re not, so israel will have to do things the hard way. or, maybe they will find an easy way that’s even better, because israelis are smart. smartness helps you win at stuff. whereas if you’re a barking fist-shaking israel-hating foamy-mouthed third-world-shirtbag…well…
take your head outta your butt idiot…or u r zio jewish pigshit
netanyahu and gantz speak of an imminent all out war with hezbollah since nov, i’ll believe it when i see it
zionists pigs harming you, send you to stone ages.
global war against zionizm, it will not stop until your total destruction. and it is very easy