Israel warns of possible 'new war' in the region after Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah attacks an Israeli air base and Jewish ethnic forces kill one of the terrorists' top commanders are doing.
Israeli army chief of staff Col. Helji Halevi said over the weekend that the IDF is ramping up pressure on Hezbollah, a key ally of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza after the October 7 attack. Stated.
Halevi said Israel must be effective in stopping Hezbollah's ongoing rocket attacks on its northern border, or “a new war will begin.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added: “I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: terrorists are not spared.”
“We are determined to protect our people and return northerners to their safe homes,” the prime minister told ministers.
The damning comments came as Israeli forces killed Wissam Hassan al-Tawil, deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan unit, in an airstrike on Monday. The Israel Defense Forces said Radwan was attempting to invade northern Israel.
Al-Tawil died along with another Hezbollah fighter when his Honda SUV was attacked, the terror group confirmed, saying the leader died “on the road to Jerusalem.” This is the expression used for Hezbollah fighters killed by Israeli forces.
Lebanese security forces described the attack as a “very painful attack” that would cause a “resurgence”.
But the IDF said its warplanes simply stopped after the terrorist group fired about 40 rockets into Israel and attacked an air traffic control base on Mount Meron, forcing thousands of Israelis in the north to evacuate. He said they were targeting Hezbollah's infrastructure.
The attack caused some damage to the Israeli air base, but no one was killed.
After the attack, Prime Minister Netanyahu told Israeli Defense Force reservists that he was ready to go to war with Hezbollah if necessary.
“Of course we would like this to happen without a huge campaign, but that won't stop us,” he said. According to the Times of Israel.
“We gave them an example of what is happening to our friends in the south. This is what happens here in the north,” Netanyahu said, referring to Israeli ground attacks on Hamas strongholds in Gaza. and spoke.
“We will make every effort to restore safety,” he added.
Hezbollah officials said on Monday that the attack on the airbase was an “initial response” to the killing of deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in an airstrike in Beirut last week.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel in two televised speeches not to launch an all-out war against Lebanon after al-Arouri's death.
“Anyone who thinks of going to war with us will, in a word, regret it,” Nasrallah said ominously.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati also declared that Israel “aims to draw Lebanon further into war.”
Nasser Qanani of Iran's Foreign Ministry, which supports both Hamas and Hezbollah in the fight against Israel, said al-Arouri's death “undoubtedly signals a new surge in the pulse of resistance and motivation to fight the Zionist occupiers.” It will ignite the fire,” he said. – Not only in Palestine, but also among all those who seek freedom in the region and around the world. ”
The terrorist group began firing rockets into Israel soon after Hamas launched an attack on the Jewish state on October 7, which Hezbollah said was aimed at easing Israeli military pressure on Gaza.
To prevent an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon, President Biden has dispatched some of his aides to the Middle East.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday and will meet with senior government officials on Tuesday to discuss concrete steps to “avoid escalation.” According to the Washington Post.
Blinken's spokesman Matthew Miller said Sunday: “It is in no one's interest for this conflict to expand beyond Gaza, not for Israel, not for the region, not for the world.”
Biden also sent a special envoy, Amos Hochstein, to try to hammer out an agreement between Israel and Lebanon to begin negotiations on land boundaries that define where and when Israel and Lebanon can send troops.
U.S. and French officials are also reportedly in talks with the Lebanese government to take control of part of the Lebanese-Israeli border, rather than Hezbollah, which currently controls the area.
U.S. officials acknowledge that Hezbollah is unlikely to agree to a deal.
with post wire
