Israel Says It Is Preparing ‘Decisive Offence’ Against Lebanese Hezbollah

The pro-Iranian Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been engaged in hostilities since 8 October 2023, the day after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, in the worst clashes between the two sides since 2006.

 

In a speech given during a visit to the north of the country, Israeli general Ori Gordin claimed today, in front of Jewish army soldiers, to have already ‘eliminated more than 500 terrorists in Lebanon, the vast majority of whom belong to Hezbollah’.

Israeli troops in the north are currently operating to protect the inhabitants of this part of the country and ‘prepare the transition to the offensive,’ added Gordin, commander of Israeli forces in the north, quoted in an army statement.

‘When the time comes and we go on the offensive, it will be a decisive offensive,’ he added.

Since October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and triggered the war in Gaza, violence between the Israeli army and Hezbollah has left at least 523 people dead in Lebanon, most of them fighters, according to a report compiled by Agence France-Presse (AFP) from various sources.

The majority of these people, 342, were confirmed as Hezbollah fighters, but the death toll also includes 104 civilians.

General Gordin did not mention any civilian casualties.

In northern Israel, at least 18 Israeli soldiers and 13 civilians were killed, according to the Tel Aviv army.

Tens of thousands of people have since been displaced in Lebanon and Israel following this wave of cross-border violence.

Iran-backed Hezbollah claims that the attacks on Israel have served to demonstrate the movement's support for its ally Hamas.

Hezbollah is part of the so-called "axis of resistance", an Iranian-led coalition that also includes the Palestinian extremist group Hamas and the Houthi rebels from Yemen.

Today, the Israeli army bombed targets allegedly linked to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and intercepted "a launch that had been launched from Lebanese territory", with no reports of casualties or material damage so far.

Tensions have increased in recent weeks and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that the Israeli army "is prepared for a very powerful action" on the Lebanese border.

For his part, the leader of the Lebanese pro-Iran movement, Hassan Nasrallah, assured that if Hamas and Israel reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the group will cease its attacks "unconditionally".