“This is not the end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after Israeli airstrikes early Sunday targeted Hezbollah rockets in southern Lebanon, as the two sides exchanged their heaviest artillery fire since the start of the Gaza war and raised fears of an all-out regional conflict.
The Israeli prime minister did not say what further actions were planned after the fierce exchange, but suggested Israel’s moves would be aimed at “changing the situation in the north.”
The IDF deployed 100 fighter jets to strike more than 40 targets in Lebanon during a seven-hour mission, while Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.
Netanyahu said the attack “destroyed thousands of short-range rockets designed to attack our citizens and forces in the Galilee region of northern Israel.”
He also said the IDF had “intercepted all drones launched by Hezbollah at strategic targets in the center of the country.” He did not name the target, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described it as a “military intelligence base 110 kilometers inside Israeli territory” outside Tel Aviv – an apparent reference to Grillot military base, home to military intelligence agencies such as the Mossad spy agency and Unit 8200 electronic surveillance unit.
Two Hezbollah fighters and one from an allied group were killed in attacks in Lebanon, while an Israeli naval officer was killed and two other soldiers wounded when a patrol boat was hit by shrapnel from an Iron Dome interceptor missile off the coast of northern Israel.
In his speech Sunday night, Nasrallah downplayed the impact of the Israeli airstrikes and said Hezbollah’s air attack, aimed at avenging the killing of a senior commander last month, was successful. He said Hezbollah had used Katyusha rockets – 320 of them according to official figures – to distract Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system from the mass drone attack. He added that all of the drones involved were successfully launched and had entered Israeli airspace, but did not say how many of them reached their targets.
Hezbollah’s secretary-general claimed the Lebanese Shiite militia had decided to focus only on military targets, rather than attacking Israeli civilians or infrastructure, in response to the killing of its commander, Fouad Shukr, in late July. He added that Hezbollah’s guided missile weapons had not been used or damaged by Israeli airstrikes and could be used in the future. They would assess the impact of Sunday’s attack before making a decision on whether to take further action in retaliation against Shukr.
“If the results are deemed not sufficient, we will respond another time,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.
Netanyahu and Nasrallah left open the possibility of further talks across the Israeli-Lebanese border, but Reuters quoted two unnamed diplomats as saying both sides considered the talks “done” and had been in contact to ensure neither wanted all-out war. Israeli Foreign Minister Katz also stressed that his country did not want an all-out conflict but would “act according to the situation on the ground.”
But Netanyahu’s government is under constant political pressure to allow 80,000 displaced people in northern Israel to return to their homes after they were driven out by rockets and artillery fire from Hamas-aligned Hezbollah after Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack into Israel on October 7 last year.
“With Nasrallah in Beirut [Iranian supreme leader] “Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran needs to understand that this is an additional step to turn the situation around in the north and allow residents to return safely to their homes,” Netanyahu said at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday. “And I repeat, this is not the end of the story.”
Israeli military commentators believe that Sunday’s apparent success has prompted IDF generals and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to back further sorties against Hezbollah positions.
Gallant told IDF officers that Israel had launched a preemptive strike minutes before Lebanese militias launched rocket and drone attacks, throwing Hezbollah off balance.
“We destabilized Hezbollah and their operation failed,” he said. Haaretz“Thousands of rockets were destroyed, several precision missile hits were made, and dozens of drones were shot down, making for an overall very successful outcome.”
“The enemy had planned to fire hundreds of rockets at northern communities. The preemptive strikes prevented more than 50 percent, perhaps two-thirds, from being fired,” said Gallant, who argued that Israel was at a “strategic crossroads” between a negotiated resolution to the Gaza conflict and confronting Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
“We need to use negotiations to achieve the release of the hostages, open the possibility of creating a solution in the north through the release of the hostages, and then calm the region,” the defence minister said.
Meanwhile, Israel is “operating and preparing as if there is no solution and is always ready to go to war in the north, whatever happens,” Gallant said. “But this is not the path we want to take, and we are still giving a chance to the possibility of resolving this issue through an agreement.”
Israel’s allies voiced their support for countering the Hezbollah threat and called for restraint to avoid a regional war.
Sean Sabet, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said: “President Biden is closely monitoring the situation in Israel and Lebanon. The President was engaging with his national security team throughout the night. At the President’s direction, senior US officials are in ongoing contact with their Israeli counterparts.”
“We will continue to support Israel’s right to self-defense and will continue to work for stability in the region,” Sabet added.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown arrived in Israel on Sunday to meet with military officials as part of a visit to Middle Eastern capitals planned before Sunday’s fighting. French news agency AFP quoted an unnamed U.S. military official as saying Washington helped track Hezbollah attacks but was “not involved in pre-emptive Israeli strikes.”
Gallant’s office reported that he spoke by phone with British Defense Secretary John Healey and briefed him on the pre-emptive air strikes and the disruption of Hezbollah attacks.
“Minister Gallant discussed Israel’s important cooperation with the UK in ensuring its security,” the ministry statement said. He also discussed the UK’s key role in maintaining regional stability and stressed the importance of preventing an escalation of regional tensions in this regard.”
