- Yoav Gallant said troops would be deployed to “reinforce” Israel’s northern forces
Israeli forces will “come into action very soon” near the country's border with Lebanon, the country's defense minister told troops, as fears grow that clashes with Hezbollah could lead to a full-scale regional war.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near the border with the besieged Gaza Strip that more troops would be moved to northern Israel, the armed forces said [there] be reinforced'.
He added that reservists would be gradually released “to prepare for future deployments.”
Since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out on October 7, there have been almost daily exchanges of fire on the Lebanese-Israeli border between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah movement, a Hamas ally.
It followed reports that Israel was determined to prevent a repeat of the bloody invasion in the north of its territory and that “Israeli doctrine is to shift the war to the other side.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near the border with the besieged Gaza Strip that more troops would be sent to northern Israel. Israeli soldiers patrol an area near the northern Kibbutz Kfar Blum, near the border with Lebanon, on January 25
Hezbollah today claimed responsibility for at least 12 attacks on Israeli army positions near the border using Iranian Falaq-1 and Burkan missiles.
Later in the day, the Israeli army announced that it had carried out air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“The targets included Hezbollah infrastructure and an observation post in the southern Lebanese areas of Markaba, Taybeh and Maroun al-Ras,” the army said in a statement.
The army also confirmed that several projectiles had been fired from Lebanon and said forces had “responded with attacks on the launch sites and other locations in Lebanon.”
Israel's army chief Herzi Halevi said earlier this month that the likelihood of war on the northern border had become “much higher.”
“I don’t know when the war will start in the north, but I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than in the past,” Halevi said.
According to an AFP tally, more than 200 people, most of them Hezbollah members, have been killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon since October 7.
Israeli officials said nine soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side of the border.
Smoke rises after Israeli shelling on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on January 29, 2024. A view shows snow covered trees and houses in Faraya, seen from Kfardebian, Mount Lebanon
Hezbollah, which is financed by Iran, has been building up its military strength over the years and stockpiling a huge arsenal of around 100,000 rockets.
Tensions on the border have increased in recent months, bringing back memories of Hezbollah's war with Israel in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers.
The conflict ended thanks to a UN ceasefire resolution, which agreed that all forces except UN peacekeepers and the official Lebanese army would be relocated north of the Litani River.
Search and rescue efforts continue in the area of the city of Deir Al Balah in Az Zawayda, Gaza, following an Israeli airstrike on January 29, 2024. The war between Israel and Hamas has killed more than 26,000 people in Gaza and is destroying large parts of the enclave, according to local health authorities
But instead, Hezbollah remained in the south in the years that followed, building its fortifications near the borders, claiming they were protecting against the Israeli threat. Israel may now be interested in pushing them back, according to reports.
In Gaza today, Gallant said Hamas is running out of supplies and ammunition but that the war against Hamas “will take months.”
The prospect of a prolonged war comes as Palestinians face a worsening humanitarian crisis and funding has stopped for UNWRA, which provides aid to about half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.
According to local health authorities, more than 26,000 people were killed in Israel's attack on Gaza.
The conflict, which is well over 100 days old, has destroyed large parts of the enclave and displaced almost 85 percent of the population.
The Hamas attack in southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 people were taken hostage.