Israel is ready to launch war in Lebanon. With a ground invasion plan already drawn up – and presented to the United States since Sunday – the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallantannounced this week that his army was preparing for an open front against Hezbollah on the northern border. On Tuesday, during a ground combat exercise, he explained that the movement of his troops is in response to the fact that the center of gravity of the war in Gaza is “shifting northward,” although the mission of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Strip “is not finished,” Gallant told his detachments at the gates of Lebanon in a video posted on X.
The land invasion of the neighbouring country is something that northerners have been demanding from the government for months. Benjamin NetanyahuOn the Israeli side, 60,000 displaced people have left the northern regions since Hezbollah began attacking Israeli territory in response to the IDF massacre in Gaza, which has already left 41,000 dead.
Wednesday afternoon, Israel said it received more than 60 rockets from the Lebanese Shiite armed group within an hour.. Added to the discontent of a population that has not been able to return to its homes for months is the fact that, without ground intervention, the army has also not shown itself capable of achieving its military objectives. After a months-long exchange of fire in which Hezbollah leaders were specifically eliminated, Israel’s intention is to besiege the armed group’s stronghold in the south of the neighboring country.
Israeli public opinion and the interests of the army agree on the advisability of entering Lebanon. And what Netanyahu’s defense minister now recognizes has been claimed for some time by other voices inside and outside the ruling party.
9 שמסיימים סבב true.
מעבירים ת מרכז הכובד צפונה, ק מ מחויבותינו להשבת תושבי הצפון לביתם ל שינוי המצב ה
בשיחתי עם הלוחמים הדגשתי שעליהם להיות… pic.twitter.com/yo0GrAiGlD
— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) September 10, 2024
On Saturday, the moderate opponent Benny Gantz said: “Hamas is an old story, we have to focus on Hezbollah.” On Monday, Nissim VaturiA member of Netanyahu’s Knesset party said: “It is only a matter of days before an all-out war breaks out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.” VaturiA member of the Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee, told the Kan public broadcaster that when that happens, Dahie – the southern suburb of Beirut that is home to a major Hezbollah stronghold – “will become Gaza.”
The prime minister himself fueled a confusion that was picked up by the Hebrew press. Although his government did not declare the border with Lebanon as a primary combat zone, on September 2 In a speech, Netanyahu justified strengthening the northern front to bring the region’s residents home.. However, the latter is not among the government’s four official war aims either. The prime minister stressed the need to allow northern Israelis to return to their villages at last Sunday’s cabinet meeting.
It is now known that on the same day, the IDF approved “operational plans” envisaging various possible degrees of escalation in southern Lebanon. The army’s Northern Command even presented these forecasts to the head of the American Central Command, General Michael Kurilla.
Like Israel, Shiite militias are also preparing a direct and prolonged fight against the IDF in southern Lebanon, they report. Haaretz military sources.
On Wednesday, at an event commemorating 40 days since the assassination of Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr, the current top leader of the militias warned Netanyahu: “With the current path you are following, you will not be able to restore security and serenity so that your settlers in the north can return. Hezbollah’s second strongest man, Sayed Hachem Safieddincontinued: “Therefore, the only path that we announced from the beginning would be to end the killings, destruction and massacres in Gaza, in order to deactivate the front here in southern Lebanon.”
The Hague calls for Netanyahu’s arrest
The plans for advances on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border come as the Hague court requests that the arrests of Netanyahu, Gallant and Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s president and leader of its political wing since Ismail’s assassination, be expedited by Haniye. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khancalled on Wednesday for a decision “as quickly as possible” on the arrest warrants issued in May against the Israeli prime minister, his defense minister and the leader of Hamas.
Far from seeing any progress in the procedures, last Sunday, an official source in the Netanyahu government told CNN that Israel would be prepared to offer Sinwar “safe passage for him and whoever he wants” in exchange for the release by Hamas of the hundred Israeli hostages believed to be alive in Gaza.
