A member of Israel’s war cabinet warned on Wednesday that the diplomatic “hourglass” was running out for Lebanon as the country failed to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets across the border.
Israeli government minister Benny Gantz scoffed at attacks from the Lebanese border – raising fresh fears of a second war on Israel’s northern border.
“The hourglass for a political solution is running out,” Gantz told reporters.
“If the world and the Lebanese government will not work to stop the shooting in Israel and keep Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will.”
Hezbollah, a terrorist organization with a strong military, holds a firm grip on southern Lebanon and began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7.
At least 11 Israelis, including four civilians, were killed by the attack.
About 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 vowed to join them in the war as soon as October 7. REUTERS
Gantz’s warning came after Hezbollah launched its most extensive offensive on Wednesday, firing more rockets and drones into Israel than any other day since the offensive began.
For weeks, Israeli officials have been working through diplomatic channels with Lebanon to remove Hezbollah from the border region. Officials from the US and France have been sent to Beirut to ease the tense standoff.
The diplomats were unsuccessful.
“We are turning to every normal country, be it the United States, France, Arab countries – anyone who can influence the situation and have influence in Lebanon,” Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said earlier in December .
Edelstein warned that failure in diplomacy could lead to a second front in the ongoing war.
Israeli rocket launchers were deployed on the northern border and prepared to strike back at Hezbollah on Wednesday AFP via Getty Images
IDF Chief, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, echoing Gantz’s stance this week, said troops stationed in northern Israel were on “very high alert.”
“Our first task is to restore safety and security to the people in the north, and this will take time,” he said, according to the BBC.
Hezbollah has praised Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel — which left 1,500 mostly civilian dead and 240 hostages. Iran’s terrorist proxies have been threatening to join the war ever since.
Just days after the attack, Hezbollah’s high-ranking Deputy Chief Naim Qassem said the group was “fully prepared” to join ranks with Hamas. Qassem described the move as an “obligation” during an October rally where attendees chanted “Death to Israel.”
Like Hamas, Hezbollah is one of several Iranian-funded Middle Eastern extremist groups that call themselves the “Axis of Resistance.”
Destruction in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil after an Israeli rocket hit on Tuesday, killing three civilians Xinhua/Shutterstock
Another member of the group, the Houthis in Yemen, is dedicated to destroying both the US and Israel and has critically disrupted Mediterranean trade by attacking cargo ships passing through the Red Sea.
The Axis effort appears to be part of a broader Iranian campaign to remove Western influence from the Middle East, experts have warned, and has the US and its allies tiptoeing around the region to avoid sparking an open conflict with Iran.
President Biden went so far as to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt plans for an initial attack on Hezbollah shortly after the October 7 attack, according to reports.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his attitude towards Hezbollah clear.
During a visit to the northern border earlier this month, Netanyahu said Israel was ready to “single-handedly turn Beirut and South Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
