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Published December 28, 2023, 6:14 PM ET
A member of Israel's War Cabinet warned on Wednesday that Lebanon's diplomatic “hourglass” was coming to an end due to the country's failure to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets across the border.
Israeli Government Minister Benny Gantz mocked the barrage on the Lebanese border – sparking new fears that a second front of the war could be opening on Israel's northern border.
“The hourglass for a political solution is running out,” Gantz told reporters.
“If the world and the Lebanese government do not work to stop the shooting at Israel and distance Hezbollah from the border, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) will.”
Hezbollah, a heavily militarized terrorist organization, has a firm grip on southern Lebanon and began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack.
At least eleven Israelis, including four civilians, were killed in the attacks.
Around 150 Lebanese – mostly Hezbollah terrorists and 17 civilians – were killed by Israeli counterattacks. Thousands of civilians have been displaced on both sides of the border.
Hezbollah praised Hamas' attack on Israel and pledged to join them in the war shortly after October 7 Portal
Gantz's warning came after Hezbollah launched its biggest attack yet on Wednesday, firing more rockets and drones into Israel than on any other day since the attacks began.
For weeks, Israeli officials have been working with Lebanon through diplomatic channels to expel Hezbollah from the border region. Officials from the United States and France were dispatched to Beirut to calm the tense standoff.
The diplomats were unsuccessful.
“We are reaching out to every normal country, be it the United States, France, Arab countries – anyone who could somehow influence the situation and has some influence in Lebanon,” said Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee and Defense of Israel, previously in December.
Edelstein warned that a failure in diplomacy could lead to a second front in the ongoing war.
Israeli rocket launchers were stationed on the northern border on Wednesday, ready to attack Hezbollah. AFP via Getty Images
The head of the IDF, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, reiterated Gantz's position this week, saying troops stationed in northern Israel were at “very high readiness.”
“Our first task is to restore the safety and security of residents in the north and that will take time,” he said, according to the BBC.
Hezbollah has praised Hamas's brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in 1,500 mostly civilian deaths and another 240 taken hostages. Since then, Iran's terror proxy has threatened to join the war.
Just days after the attack, senior Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group was “fully ready” to join Hamas. Qassem described the move as a “duty” during a rally in October where participants chanted “Death to Israel.”
Like Hamas, Hezbollah is one of several Iranian-funded extremist groups in the Middle East that describe themselves as the “Axis of Resistance.”
Destruction in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil after Israeli rocket strikes on Tuesday that killed three civilians Xinhua/Shutterstock
Another member of the group, the Houthis in Yemen, are committed to the destruction of both the United States and Israel and have significantly disrupted Mediterranean trade by attacking freighters passing through the Red Sea.
The Axis efforts appear to be part of a broader Iranian campaign to eradicate Western influence in the Middle East, experts warn, and have left the United States and its allies on tiptoe in the region to avoid open conflict with Iran.
President Biden reportedly went so far as to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon plans for a preemptive strike against Hezbollah shortly after the October 7 attack.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his stance against Hezbollah clear.
During a visit to the northern border earlier this month, Netanyahu said Israel was ready to “single-handedly convert Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza.”
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