Jerusalem – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday morning that the Jewish state is “ready for very intense action in the north” in response to continued rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel by the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Speaking from an Israeli military base in Kiryat Shmona, Netanyahu declared, “We said at the beginning of the war that we would restore security in both the south and the north – and that is what we are doing. Today I am on the northern border with our heroic fighters and commanders, as well as our firefighters. The ground burned here yesterday, and I am glad that you have put it out, but the ground burned in Lebanon as well.”
The Israeli leader further said, “Anyone who thinks they can harm us, and we will sit idly by, is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security in the north.”
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Firefighters battle fires sparked by Hezbollah rockets and drones in the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on June 3, 2024. More than 30 crews worked through the night to bring the fires under control in the Galilee and Golan. (Erez Ben Simon/TPS-IL)
More than 80,000 Israelis have fled the border areas since Oct. 7 as Hezbollah waged a mini-war against Israel as the Iranian proxy ramps up pressure on the Jewish state. Earlier this week, parts of northern Israel came under fire as a result of massive bombings carried out by the terror group.
“Israel has said from the beginning that it will deal with Gaza first and then the north,” Brigadier General (retired) Amir Avivi, former deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division, told Fox News Digital.
He said, “In the coming weeks, the main missions in Rafah will end. Most troops will be sent north and Hezbollah will be threatened, in accordance with UN Resolution 1701, to force them to withdraw. If they do not withdraw, and if there is no US-led threat to Hezbollah or Iran, and no international pressure, Israel will have to attack and conduct a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, while destroying most of Hezbollah’s long-range capabilities.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Israeli Government Press Office)
According to Avivi, the United Nations and Western countries have failed to implement UN Resolution 1701. Hezbollah needs to disarmAvivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), argued that Hezbollah was “taking advantage of the weakness of Western countries, because they are unable to threaten them.”
Citing the US Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, Reuters reported that Hezbollah is believed to have more than 150,000 missiles and rockets. Reuters mentioned“Hezbollah says it has rockets that can strike all areas of Israel. Many of the rockets are unguided, but it also has precision missiles, drones, and anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and anti-ship missiles.”
Avivi further said, “It will be a war, but not like Gaza, because it will be a short war, because both sides cannot afford the destruction that will follow. Therefore, the attack will be fierce. Hezbollah will probably fire on Haifa and Tel Aviv, etc. I believe it will be a war of one or one and a half months. After that, Israel will occupy the entire southern part of Lebanon, setting the conditions for the return of civilians.”
Possibility of Israel-Hezbollah war ‘inevitable’, fear experts: ‘Totally pessimistic’
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech during a gathering in a southern suburb of Beirut on April 5, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition, the embassy was also targeted after a shooting incident around the US Embassy near Beirut on Wednesday. issue a warning notice “US citizens should avoid travel to the Lebanon-Israel border region, the Lebanon-Syria border region, and refugee settlements.”
Hezbollah attacked the Israeli village of Hurfeish on Wednesday evening, wounding 11 people, three of them seriously, Israeli news agency TPS-IL reported.
Israel has fought two major wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in 1982 and 2006.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday, “We do not support a full-blown war with Hezbollah. We don’t want to see that happen. Now, that being said, Israel has a right to defend itself from attacks by Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is committed to the destruction of Israel and has carried out attacks against Israel over the years. And so, Israel has a right to defend itself, and it has a right to deal with that threat.”
“You can understand why it’s not a fair situation for Israel to have thousands of its citizens continue to be displaced from their homes and why they would want to do something about that,” Miller said. “But ultimately, we’ve heard Israeli leaders say the solution they prefer is a diplomatic solution, and obviously, that’s the solution we prefer and that we’re trying to pursue.”
The situation after a Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on May 10, 2024. (Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL)
Fox News Digital spoke to leading experts on Hezbollah, both of whom were born in Lebanon.
Eddie Cohen, an Israeli expert on Lebanon and Hezbollah who is a researcher at the Eaton Center, told Fox News Digital, “Hezbollah said from day one that it would help the Gaza front. Hezbollah said it would not stop shelling Israel until Israel stops the war in Gaza. From my point of view, the Israeli strategy has failed because the Israeli strategy did not confront the Lebanese identity that is responsible for this war.”
European countries such as France consider the Lebanese state to be separate from Hezbollah. However, many experts, including Cohen and others, consider the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah to be the de facto ruler of the small Mediterranean state.
He said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant has repeatedly threatened Hezbollah and Lebanon that “we will take them back to the Stone Age in Lebanon.” Cohen said the problem is that Galant’s threats are only “words.”
An Israeli fighter jet fires a flare over southern Lebanon on May 16, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
“Israel should expand the war to Beirut, not just the south of Lebanon,” Cohen said. He believes Israel will target Beirut. Cohen said Hezbollah has suffered numerous attacks from the Israeli army. “More than 330 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed since October 8 and Hezbollah has lost many weapons and ammunition … and more than 100,000 people have been evacuated from the south of Lebanon. They are suffering, and they don’t say it because they are not a democratic country.”
Cohen said that if Lebanese people complained they could be killed or beaten by Hezbollah.
Dr. Walid Fares, a Lebanese-American academic expert on the Mideast, told Fox News Digital, “Hezbollah fires missiles or drones at Israel in very close collaboration with the Iranian regime. This is not Hezbollah’s war with Israel. This is the Islamic Republic’s war with Israel using Hezbollah. It’s very close. Hezbollah is integrated into the Iranian regime command. The order for every rocket fired at Israel comes from Tehran.”
Fares said the Iranian clerical regime in Tehran does not care about the “destruction in Lebanon.”
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Hezbollah members salute and wave the group’s yellow flag during the funeral of fighters killed in an Israeli attack in Shehabiya, southern Lebanon, on April 17. (AFP via Getty Images)
Fares said the Lebanese government is controlled by Hezbollah. Fares, who advises U.S. presidential candidates, said a key option for Israel and the U.S. is to “change the game,” which would mean “the Lebanese or independent Lebanese people rising up against Hezbollah inside Lebanon, a resistance movement, an opposition. That would change things and put pressure on Hezbollah inside Lebanon. That requires two things: an Israeli decision to engage with the Lebanese people, but it also requires much more, the Biden administration supporting anti-Hezbollah forces inside Lebanon.”
Fox News Digital sought comment from the State Department on whether the United States would take action to force the United Nations to implement Resolution 1701 and impose new sanctions on Hezbollah.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
