Israel ready for “total war” in Lebanon | News on the Israel-Palestine conflict

The Israeli military says its Northern Command has approved operational plans for war against Lebanon.

According to official sources, Israel is ready for a “total war” in Lebanon and has approved plans for an offensive against Hezbollah.

The statements by Israel’s foreign minister and military late Tuesday followed the release of ominous drone footage by Hezbollah. The rising tensions are at odds with US efforts to prevent escalation amid months of minor hostilities on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The nine-minute drone footage of the Israeli port city of Haifa was taken in daylight and shows civilian and military areas, including shopping malls and residential areas, as well as a weapons production complex and missile defense batteries.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded vehemently in a post on X, accusing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah of boasting that he had filmed the ports of Haifa, which are operated by foreign companies from China and India.

Nasrallah now boasts of having filmed the ports of Haifa, which are operated by international companies from China and India, and threatens to attack them.
We are on the verge of deciding to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an open war, Hezbollah would be…

— Welcome to Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) June 18, 2024

“We are on the verge of deciding to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In a full-scale war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard,” he wrote.

The Israeli military later said in a statement that Ori Gordin, commander of the Northern Command, which includes the front line with Hezbollah, had approved plans for a ground attack on Israel’s northern border.

“As part of the situation assessment, operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated and decisions were made on further increasing the operational readiness of the troops on the ground,” it said.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting border clashes since the Gaza war began, which followed the attacks on Israel on October 7. The confrontation is escalating, and both sides say they are ready to go to war.

Nasrallah is scheduled to give a speech on Wednesday afternoon. He has said in the past that Hezbollah will only stop its attacks if Israel stops its invasion of Gaza, which has killed at least 37,000 Palestinians.

The Israeli military has carried out regular air strikes on Lebanon since the war began. On Tuesday, it claimed to have hit military infrastructure in several areas in the south of the country.

On Monday, it said it had killed a “key operative” of Hezbollah’s rocket division in a drone strike. A week earlier, it had killed Taleb Abdullah, reportedly the commander of a Hezbollah division covering the western section of the front line between the border with Israel and the Litani River.

Hezbollah recently stated that it had carried out over 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8, ostensibly in support of the Palestinians.

In the last eight months, more than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, including journalists and paramedics. In Israel, 25 people died. At least 90,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon and more than 60,000 have been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel.

The United States is making diplomatic efforts to prevent an escalation, White House special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday during a trip to Lebanon.

“We have seen an escalation in recent weeks. And President Biden wants to prevent further escalation towards a larger war,” Hochstein told reporters in Beirut after meetings in Israel a day earlier.