12/28/2023 02:37 (current 12/28/2023 02:40)
Israeli army chief Halevi is also ready to attack Hezbollah ©APA/AFP/POOL
The Israeli military says it is on high alert in the north of the country in the face of increasing attacks by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia. “Today we approved a series of plans for various contingencies and we must be prepared to attack if necessary,” Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday during a visit to the army command in northern Israel, according to an official statement. .
“The Israel Defense Forces and its Northern Command are at a very high level of readiness,” he said. “Until now the campaign here has been carried out correctly and carefully, and it must continue to be so”, added the Chief of Staff.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, there have been repeated clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the border region. There were deaths and injuries on both sides. It is the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006. It fuels fears of a new and bigger war between Israel and Hezbollah. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia is considered much more powerful and better armed than the Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the start of the war in Gaza, Israeli authorities took tens of thousands of residents from the northern region of Israel to the interior of the country for security reasons.
“Our first task is the safe return of residents, and that will take time,” Halevi said. According to Israeli sources, Hezbollah fired rockets at the northern border town of Kiriat Shmona on Wednesday. Israeli police said several buildings were damaged. Therefore, people were not injured. Israeli attacks on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon on the same day left three people dead, including a Hezbollah fighter, Lebanese news agency NNA reported.
The fighting since the beginning of October represents the worst military confrontation in this location since the second Lebanon war in 2006. But experts say they are still following certain unspoken rules. So far, both sides have avoided further escalation. Hezbollah, which is equipped by Iran, essentially controls the Lebanese government and has a missile arsenal that threatens Israel. The Jewish State, in turn, is militarily capable of inflicting incalculable damage on Lebanon.