(Jerusalem) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel was “ready for a very intense operation” on its northern border, where daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah have intensified in recent years. last days.
This declaration comes in the midst of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, of which Hezbollah is an ally, and while rocket and drone fire by the Lebanese formation from southern Lebanon provoked earlier this week several fires in northern Israel near the border.
“We are ready for a very intense operation in the north. One way or another, we will restore security there,” Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit near the border with Lebanon.
Mr Netanyahu’s far-right allies, Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have both called in recent days for urgent action to restore security to northern Israel.
“They’re setting fire here. All Hezbollah strongholds should also burn and be destroyed. WAR”, wrote Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday, in a message on the Telegram network.
The pro-Iranian Lebanese outfit said it launched several attacks on Israeli military positions on Wednesday, including a “guided missile” strike at an “Iron Dome (aircraft defense system) platform in the Ramot Naftali barracks.”
On Monday, Mr. Smotrich said the Israeli army would invade Lebanon and push “hundreds of thousands of Lebanese” from the border area.
Nearly eight months of border violence have left at least 455 dead in Lebanon, the majority combatants and nearly 90 civilians, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in these clashes, according to the authorities.
Exchanges of fire have intensified in recent weeks, with the Israeli army carrying out strikes deeper and deeper into Lebanon where it has also increased its targeted strikes against Hezbollah fighters in recent days.
