2023-12-28 01:42:14
The Israeli military says it is on high alert in the north of the country in view of increasing attacks by the Shiite militia Hezbollah from Lebanon. “Today we approved a number of plans for various contingencies, and we must be prepared to strike if necessary,” Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday during a visit to the army command in northern Israel, according to an official statement.
“The Israel Defense Forces and its Northern Command are at a very high level of readiness,” he said. “So far the campaign here has been carried out correctly and carefully, and it must continue to be so,” the Chief of General Staff added.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7th, there have been repeated confrontations between Israel’s army and Hezbollah in the border region. There were deaths and injuries on both sides. It is the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006. It fuels fears of a new, larger war between Israel and Hezbollah. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia is considered to be far more powerful and better armed than the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the beginning of the Gaza war, the Israeli authorities brought tens of thousands of residents of the region in northern Israel into the interior of the country for security reasons.
“Our first task is the safe return of residents, and that will take time,” Halevi said. According to Israeli sources, Hezbollah fired rockets at the border town of Kiriat Shmona in the north on Wednesday. Israeli police said several buildings were damaged. People were therefore not injured. Israeli attacks on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon on the same day left three people dead, including a Hezbollah fighter, the Lebanese news agency NNA reported.
The fighting since the beginning of October represents the worst military confrontation in this location since the second Lebanon war in 2006. But experts say they still follow certain unspoken rules. Both sides have so far avoided further escalation. Hezbollah, which is equipped by Iran, essentially controls the government in Lebanon and has a missile arsenal that threatens Israel. The Jewish state, in turn, is militarily capable of inflicting untold damage on Lebanon.
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