01/17/2024 10:25 pm (current 01/17/2024 10:25 pm)
Israel's army chief, Herzi Halevi, sees a growing threat of war in the north of the country, on the border with Lebanon. “I do not know when the war will take place in the north,” said a statement from Halevi, distributed on Wednesday during his visit to northern Israel. “But I can say that the likelihood of this happening in the coming months is much higher than it has been in the past.”
There is currently daily fighting on the Israeli-Lebanese border. These occur between the Israeli army and the Shiite Hezbollah militia, based in Lebanon, which is supported by Iran and allied with the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas.
Hamas' armed wing said on Wednesday it fired 20 rockets from southern Lebanon into Israel. This is a response to the “massacres” in the Gaza Strip and the assassination of the deputy head of Hamas in Beirut earlier this month. The Israeli army, in turn, announced on Wednesday that it carried out airstrikes against targets in southern Lebanon and also attacked “terrorist infrastructures”.
Clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border have increased enormously since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Since then, according to an AFP count, more than 190 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 140 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists. According to Israeli authorities, nine soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.
Hamas fighters advanced from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7 and committed massacres and atrocities against civilians. Israel then declared war on Hamas and launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip.