Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Hertzi Halevi, announced that his forces are capable of destroying any village inside Lebanon, escalating his rhetoric against Hezbollah stationed on the other side of the border.
Since the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel on October 7 in the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed daily shelling exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Halevi, in front of a crowd of soldiers in Gaza, said that what the soldiers did in the besieged sector convinced him that they could move the fight to Lebanese territory if necessary.
An Israeli army statement quoted him saying, ‘We fought in Gaza, so we know how to do it in Lebanon if necessary.’
He added, ‘After what you have done (in Gaza), there is no village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy.’
Since the escalation began on both sides of the border, 188 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 141 members of the party and more than twenty civilians, among them three journalists, according to a count by Agence France-Presse.
The Israeli army, on its part, counted 14 dead, including nine soldiers.
While Hezbollah says it targets Israeli military sites in support of Gaza, the Israeli army says its air and artillery strikes aim to disrupt the party’s infrastructure and movements of its fighters around the border.”
The recent war in Gaza has had a significant impact on Hezbollah’s activities and stance. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech, mirrored Iran’s support for Hamas and threats against Israel. He indicated that Hezbollah might intervene if Israel continues its actions in Gaza. Nasrallah emphasized that Hamas’s October 7 attack was a Palestinian operation, and he preferred the war not to expand. However, to pressure Israel into a ceasefire, Hezbollah is likely to continue limited attacks on Israeli targets from Lebanon. While these skirmishes are currently manageable, there is a risk they could escalate into a larger conflict. Hezbollah, a central actor in Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” is a battle-hardened group with significant missile capabilities that could substantially damage Israeli cities.
