A forest fire rages in Israel after a Hezbollah attack across the border in Lebanon. Photo: AYAL MARGOLIN/REUTERS
Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to take “strong action” against Hezbollah after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was ready for an “attack in the north.”
Prime Minister The Israeli minister visited the country's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday and said: “Anyone who thinks they can harm us while we sit idly by is making a big mistake. We are ready for very strong actions in the north. One way or another, we will restore security in the north.”
Forest fires are raging in northern Israel as a result of Hezbollah strikes. At least 100,000 Israelis have been displaced since the terrorist group launched a solidarity operation following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, and tens of thousands more have been displaced in southern Lebanon.
Israelis still living near borders, suffer from daily bombing: since the beginning of the war, more than 3,000 shells have been fired towards Israel from Lebanon.
Forest fires have been burning for several days after Hezbollah's rocket. bombings. Firefighters are trying to contain the fire, which has been growing in intensity in recent weeks and worsened by rising temperatures.
More than 3,500 acres have been destroyed so far.
Eleven people were injured on Wednesday, one of them in in critical condition after an explosive-laden Hezbollah drone attacked the northern town of Khurfeish, a Druze village in northern Israel.
The IDF said that «the number of launches from Lebanon has dropped in the area, adding that they are investigating why the alarms in the city did not go off.
On Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the IDF chief of staff, said Israel was close to making a decision regarding Hezbollah's daily bombing campaign, which has intensified since January, when 26 drones were launched into Israel, rising to 90 in May, to the thousands. new missiles and shells.
Conditions are aggravated by rising temperatures. Photo: AYAL MARGOLIN/REUTERS
“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is ready and very ready for that decision,” Lt. Halevi said during a conversation with military officials.
“We have been attacking for eight months and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. In recent days it has increased its forces, and after very good preparation we are ready… to go on the offensive in the north,” he said.
“[We have] strong defenses, readiness to attack, [and] we We are approaching the point of making a decision,” he added.
Since the beginning of the war, more than 3,000 shells have been fired towards Israel from Lebanon . Photo: AYAL MARGOLIN/REUTERS
Shadi Halul, a veteran IDF major and resident of Israel's Jish Gush Halawa, less than four kilometers from the border. said that the population of northern Israel is “losing hope.”
“The feeling is that if we do not eliminate Hezbollah, the displaced population will not return home, because we can no longer trust these groups after what happened on October 7,” he said. «Hezbollah is much stronger, and what could happen here will be much worse.»
Mr Halul, founder of the Aramaic Christian Center of Galilee, said that although residents had not been told the war was coming, they saw an escalation with more rockets, drones and sirens.
“Last week we were hit a barrage of 30 rockets fell half a kilometer from our house, causing a huge fire. This was really scary. We're not used to fires on top of rockets, so this adds another angle that we don't know how to predict.
“It takes firefighters many hours to get the fire under control. I couldn’t breathe from the smoke, so I had to go to another part of the country until the evening.”
Israelis flee their homes due to smoke from shelling. Photo: AYAL MARGOLIN/REUTERS
Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's deputy leader, told Al Jazeera that the group's intention was not to widen the war, but that the front in Lebanon would not stop until the war in Gaze.
Matthew Miller, US State Department The spokesman said Washington «does not support full-fledged war with Hezbollah, but agreed that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah attacks.»
«We have heard Israeli leaders said the solution they preferred was a diplomatic solution. And, obviously, this is the solution that we also prefer and that we are trying to implement,” he said.
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