Dec. 28 (UPI) — A senior member of Israel’s war cabinet threatened military action to take out Hezbollah in southern Lebanon unless the Lebanese government and the international community take action to stop the militant group launching attacks into northern Israel.
The prospect of an escalation of Israel’s war on Hamas with the opening up of a second front against the Iran-backed militants was raised by Benny Gantz at a news conference Wednesday.
The deteriorating security situation on Israel’s northern border after months of rocket fire by Hezbollah units meant the opportunity for a peaceful way out was fast evaporating, said Gantz.
“The situation on Israel’s northern border demands change,” the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and former defense minister said.
“The stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government don’t act in order to prevent the firing on Israel’s northern residents and to distance Hezbollah from the border, the IDF will do it.”
Gantz elaborated by saying that the coming phases of the war would be “deep, forceful, and surprising” with the military campaign continuing to widen to “more foci or fronts” as necessary.
The IDF is signaling it is poised to act when the order comes with its most senior commander saying on a visit to northern command headquarters in Safed on Wednesday that forces there were “at a very high level of readiness.”
“Today we approved a variety of plans for the future, and we need to be ready for an offensive, if necessary,” said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
However, he stressed that safely returning the tens of thousands of residents of communities near the border with Lebanon who have been evacuated since Oct. 7 took priority, an objective that would take time.
“So far, the campaign here has been managed correctly and meticulously, and this is how it should continue. We will not return the residents without security and a sense of security,” Halevi said.
Regional tensions, which have been steadily on the rise as the Israel-Hamas war has drawn in Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen, also Iran-backed, were further heightened by a Christmas Day Israeli airstrike on Damascus that killed Sardar Seyed Razi Mousavi, a high-ranking member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
