Tel Aviv.- Israel is planning a limited ground operation in Lebanon that could begin imminently, Israel told the United States, the Washington Post reports citing an unnamed US official.
The operation would be smaller than Israel’s 2006 war against Hezbollah and would focus on the security of border communities, the official said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in comments directed at Iran on Monday that there was no place in the Middle East off limits to Israel, two days after the Israeli military killed the leader of the Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. . The Israeli leader spoke in English in a three-minute video released by his office in which he said he was addressing the Iranian people.
“There is no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach. There is no place we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” Netanyahu said.
The assassination of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the most powerful leader of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and American interests in the Middle East, was one of the hardest blows in decades to both Hezbollah and Iran. Israel said on Monday that a ground invasion was an option in Lebanon after two weeks of intense airstrikes and the elimination of Nasrallah, but the group’s deputy leader said they were prepared for any offensive. In a conversation with soldiers deployed on Israel’s northern border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would do whatever is necessary to ensure the return of citizens who have fled Hezbollah’s rockets during nearly a year of border war. . “We will use whatever means necessary: your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea and on land. Good luck,” said Gallant, who met with the commanders. “The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. To ensure the return of the communities in northern Israel, we will use all our capabilities, and this includes you.” Israeli airstrikes continued today against targets in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, extending a two-week offensive in which several Hezbollah commanders have been eliminated, although about a thousand people have also died and a million more have been forced to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese Government.
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