Image source, Reuters
1 hour ago
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that “Israel has dealt unexpected blows to the Lebanese Hezbollah group.”
Netanyahu vowed: “If the message does not reach Hezbollah, I will work to deliver it,” and said in a video statement: “We are determined to return our displaced residents in the north to their homes in peace.”
Netanyahu continued, “No country can tolerate rockets being fired at its residents or cities, and Israel is no exception.”
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant confirmed that Hezbollah has begun to sense some of the capabilities of the Israeli army, and that it is living in difficult circumstances.
During a tour of the Air Force’s control and attack headquarters in the northern region, Galant pointed out that “Israel will continue its operations until the residents are safely returned to their homes in the north of the country.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: “Hezbollah must withdraw beyond the Litani River in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” explaining that Israel will work to achieve this if the international community does not implement the resolution.
In a letter to his counterparts, Katz added that “Israel will not rest until its 70,000 residents are safely returned to the north.”
Image source, Reuters
Comment on the image, Part of the funeral of the prominent Hezbollah military official, Ibrahim Aqil
The statements came after clashes escalated last week, when Israel targeted a meeting of leaders of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing senior officials in the unit.
This operation came after explosions of wireless communication devices used by Hezbollah members, which led to dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries, amid accusations by the party that Israel was responsible for the attack.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied, on Sunday, Israel’s involvement in the pager attacks that took place in Lebanon, saying, “We reject, in full, any connection to this operation.”
“There are many enemies of Hezbollah there, and Hezbollah is strangling Lebanon, destroying it, and creating chaos in it over and over again, and we are simply here to defend ourselves, and that is all we are doing,” he added.
Herzog also commented on the targeting of Hezbollah leaders, saying: “The meeting was intended to plan an invasion of Israel.”
In an interview with Sky News, Herzog said: “These leaders met to carry out a heinous attack similar to what Hamas did on October 7, burning, killing, kidnapping and detaining women and children,” adding: “These plans are part of Iran’s evil imperial project.”
These statements are consistent with what the Israeli army spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said after the raid, when he explained that “the targeted leaders planned to occupy the Galilee, similar to what Hamas did in the October 7 attack.”
“These leaders were responsible for attacks against Israelis since October 8, and were planning to carry out more,” he added.
Hezbollah leader in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, announced in a televised speech on Thursday his challenge to Israel to achieve its goal of returning the residents of the north to their homes, stressing that the Israeli leaders “will not be able” to achieve this.
He reiterated that the only way is to stop the “aggression and war on the people of Gaza,” and that any military escalation, assassinations, or even a comprehensive war “will increase the displacement of the population and remove the opportunity for their return.”
He pointed out that what is being raised in Israel regarding the establishment of a security belt inside Lebanese territory, which would allow the return of residents to the north, “will turn into a quagmire, a trap and an ambush.”
Nasrallah expressed his hope that this “historic opportunity” would occur, because, according to him, it would provide Hezbollah fighters with intelligence to uncover the location of the Israelis.
He added in his speech that Hezbollah will respond to the bombings on Tuesday and Wednesday, “with a harsh reckoning and just retribution, whether they expect it or not,” without specifying the time, place, or form of that response.
