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Israeli leaders have threatened to take more “intense action” against Hizbollah after an escalation in cross-border fire, increasing tensions and the prospect of all-out war with the Lebanese militant group.
In a visit to the largely evacuated northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the fires that raged across much of the region over the past two days, mostly a result of Hizbollah rockets and drone attacks.
“Yesterday the earth was on fire here . . . but it was also on fire in Lebanon. Whoever thinks that they can hurt us and that we will sit idly by is making a big mistake,” Netanyahu said.
“We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north,” he added.
The long-serving Israeli leader’s comments come after his military chief, Herzi Halevi, warned that a “point of decision” was fast approaching over whether an offensive would need to be launched in Lebanon.
“Hizbollah has increased its attacks in recent days and we are prepared . . . to move to an offensive in the north,” Halevi told troops in northern Israel on Tuesday.
The Iran-backed Hizbollah began launching strikes on northern Israel a day after the outbreak of war in Gaza last October. The movement’s leaders billed it as a display of support for Gaza and the Hamas militant group, and as a way to divert Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave.
Over the past eight months the Israeli military and Hizbollah fighters have traded near-daily fire, mostly limited to a 20km band of northern Israel and southern Lebanon. The hostilities have forced an estimated 60,000 Israeli and 100,000 Lebanese residents from their homes.
More than 300 Hizbollah fighters and commanders have been killed as well as about 80 civilians, along with nearly two dozen Israeli soldiers and civilians.
In recent weeks both Hizbollah and Israel have increased the frequency and range of their strikes. Local leaders and residents in northern Israel have grown exasperated by the inability of the Israeli government to restore security and return people to their homes, and have criticised the absence of a timeframe for a resolution to the crisis.
Hizbollah officials have said that they do not seek to escalate tensions with Israel, but would not halt strikes as long as the conflict in Gaza continues.
“Our decision is not to expand the battle, and we do not want a full-scale war, but if one is imposed on us, we are ready for it,” Naim Qassem, the movement’s second-in-command, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. “We will not retreat from the field.”
Pressure is growing on the Israeli government to act more forcefully against Hizbollah. Apocalyptic night-time images of forests going up in flames have only added to public distress over the loss of security in the north.
In a visit to the region, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, demanded “war”.
“It cannot be that our land is being targeted, we’re being harmed, people are evacuating. There cannot be a situation where there will be quiet in Lebanon. They are burning here, all Hizbollah strongholds should be burnt [there],” he said on Tuesday.
The US, along with France and the UN, has been attempting to broker a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Lebanon crisis that would include Hizbollah forces pulling back from the frontier and talks over disputed border points. Yet several people involved in the talks concede that their efforts first hinge on securing a ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu is facing pressure from hardline ministers to resist the latest US efforts to bring the Israel-Hamas war to an end. The Israeli premier has said the Jewish state will not agree to a permanent ceasefire until all its objectives in Gaza are met.
Several Israeli officials including Benny Gantz, a former army chief and member of the war cabinet, have stated that September 1 — the start of the school year — was the deadline for northern Israeli residents to return to their homes.
“You can’t lose another year in the north. It will happen either via [a diplomatic] arrangement or via [military] escalation,” Gantz said on Tuesday in the northern city of Nahariya.
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