Israel threatens war against Hezbollah, which will continue even after ceasefire in Gaza

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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the army would not stop fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon if a ceasefire was reached with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying a separate agreement with the Lebanese militant group was needed.

His threat came after Hezbollah said on Sunday it had launched its largest air operation yet, attacking an Israeli monitoring center on Mount Hermon in the annexed Golan Heights.

“My instructions to the forces in the north and the south are clear: Even if we reach an agreement in the south, we will continue fighting in the north until we reach an agreement with Hezbollah and restore security to the residents,” Gallant said in a video on Sunday during a visit to the Mount Hermon region.

“Anything can happen. We are not aiming for that. We are prepared for anything, but we are prepared that if they attack us, if they try to harm us, or if they do not allow us to return our citizens safely to their homes, we will act.”

On October 8, Hezbollah opened a pressure front on the Lebanese-Israeli border in support of its ally Hamas in order to divert Israel’s military focus from the Gaza Strip.

Since then, there has been a daily exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

In recent weeks, there has been an escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli front, increasing fears of a full-scale war.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said the group will only stop its attacks on Israel if it stops bombing the Gaza Strip. Around 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war in response to a Hamas attack that killed over 1,200 people. Hamas also took 240 hostages.

Israel has also repeatedly threatened all-out war if Hezbollah does not withdraw from the border area and allow Israeli residents to return there safely.

The Israeli military said it had approved operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s last war against Israel took place in 2006.

A softened stance by Hamas towards a ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip has rekindled hopes that a solution to the Israeli-Lebanese border conflict could also be within reach.

But the warlike rhetoric between Hezbollah and Israel continues.

In a statement on Sunday, Hezbollah said its fighters had sent “several consecutive drone squadrons to the reconnaissance center” on Mount Hermon.

The Israeli military said a drone carrying explosives “crashed in an open field in the Hermon Mountains area,” but there were no injuries.

The attack came after a member of the group was killed in an attack in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, 100 kilometers north of the border with Israel, on Saturday.

The Israeli attack killed “an important official of Hezbollah’s air defense unit,” the military claimed.

Hezbollah named Maytham Al Attar as the official killed on Saturday.

On Monday, the Iran-backed group announced the death of one of its fighters after the Israeli military said it had carried out several air and artillery strikes on Lebanon during the night.

More than 700 sheep were killed in the attacks in Jabal Toura, Lebanese state media reported.

Speaking at the Ashura festival on Sunday, Nasrallah said: “We are in the midst of major and very important events in the region… an ongoing struggle that has all options open to it.”

“This fight is different from all the fights we have fought since 1982, including the 2006 war.”

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, after a war that coincided with the founding of Hezbollah.

Since October 8, nearly 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, including about 90 civilians, while in Israel 18 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed.

Updated: July 8, 2024, 9:53 a.m.