While Israel continued its military operations in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a member of the country’s war cabinet threatened to move on the second front, along the northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah exchanges fire on an almost daily basis with Israel.
Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli Defense Cabinet and former Defense Minister, told reporters on Wednesday: “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out,” adding: “If the world and the Lebanese government do not act to prevent the shooting of the residents of northern Israel, and to remove Hezbollah from the borders, The Israeli army will do that.”
Gantz added: “The next stages of the fighting will also be deep, strong, and surprising,” noting that “the campaign will continue and expand as necessary to more outposts or fronts.”
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that its northern command, along the border with Lebanon, is in a “very high state of readiness.”
Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevy, stated, “We have to be ready to strike if necessary.”
The army announced on Tuesday that nine soldiers and a civilian were injured in northern Israel as a result of missiles fired by Lebanese Hezbollah, noting that one of them hit a church in an Arab village.
Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, the border area with southern Lebanon has witnessed an increasing military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began carrying out operations against Israeli military targets, placing this within the framework of supporting support for the “Palestinian resistance,” as it says in its statements.
Israel responds to these repeated attacks on a daily basis, by bombing border areas, targeting what it describes as the movements of Hezbollah fighters and its military infrastructure near the border.
Resolution 1701 was issued in the summer of 2006, stipulating an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in the July War, and limiting military deployment in the area south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to the United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army.
Diplomatic sources reported in recent weeks that Israel wants Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from southern Litani, at the risk of escalating the military confrontation. For its part, Hezbollah confirms the absence of any visible public presence in the border area.
Israel evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from Israeli villages and towns near the border.
The Israeli government has said publicly that, in order to allow Israeli citizens to return to their homes, the situation must change either through a diplomatic solution or military action.
Israel informed the administration of US President Joe Biden that it wants to push Hezbollah forces 6 miles (about 10 km) from the border as part of a diplomatic agreement to end tensions with Lebanon, three Israeli and American officials told Axios.
The same website indicated that the US administration is deeply concerned that the escalating border skirmishes will lead to an all-out war that will be worse than the conflict in Gaza.
In a related context, Australia confirmed, on Thursday, the killing of two of its citizens in an Israeli air strike on southern Lebanon, and said it was investigating Hezbollah’s allegations that one of them was linked to the armed group.
“We will continue to investigate this particular person who Hezbollah claimed to be connected to,” Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus said at a press conference.
He added: “Hezbollah announced that this Australian is one of its fighters. Our investigations are continuing.”
Dreyfus pointed out that Hezbollah is a “listed terrorist organization” in Australia, and providing financial support to it or fighting in its ranks is considered a crime for any Australian.
Security and local sources told Reuters on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike on a residential area in southern Lebanon resulted in the killing of a Lebanese-Australian man, his wife, and his brother, who belonged to Hezbollah.
2023-12-28 04:44:16
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