- Israel‘s armed forces are ready to step in if Hezbollah persists in its strikes on the border with Lebanon.
- There needs to be a change in the situation on Israel’s northern border.
- Hezbollah’s deployment of weaponized drones and rocket fire along the border have increased this week.
An Israeli minister stated that Israel’s armed forces are ready to step in if Hezbollah persists in its strikes on the border with Lebanon. Time was running out for a diplomatic solution, Benny Gantz said, and the director of the Israel Defense Forces declared that his men were in “very high readiness” for fresh conflict in the north.
There needs to be a change in the situation on Israel’s northern border. Gantz threatened to use the IDF to stop Hezbollah from firing on Israeli citizens in the north and to stop the world and the Lebanese government from taking action.
Lebanon and Hezbollah
The Arab League, Israel, the Gulf Arab nations, and Western governments have all labeled the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
It is one of the most powerful non-state armed groups in the world, having received funding from Iran. Hezbollah launched a deadly cross-border incursion in 2006, and Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon, sparking a full-scale conflict between the two groups.
Hezbollah’s deployment of weaponized drones and rocket fire along the border have increased this week, and Israeli warplanes have been swift to react. An Israeli airstrike that struck a home in Bint Jbeil, a community located approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Israeli border, killed a Hezbollah fighter along with two of his relatives.
Since the start of hostilities, at least four civilians and nine troops have been confirmed to have perished on the Lebanon border, accounting for over 100 fatalities in Lebanon since October.
