A senior US official confirmed West Jerusalem’s plans to ABC
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) plans to enter southern Lebanon soon, ABC News reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed senior US official. The US outlet described the supposed operation as “very limited” but provided few details about its nature or when it could begin.
On Wednesday, the IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, announced a potential ground operation in the neighboring state as he talked to troops stationed at Israel’s northern border. Airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past week were aimed at preparing the area “for the possibility of your entry,” the general told the troops.
According to Halevi, Israel was still seeking to return displaced residents from the northern regions to their homes. “To do this, we are preparing the [ground] maneuver,” the general said, without revealing a time frame for the operation.
“You will go in, destroy the enemy there, and decisively destroy their infrastructure,” Halevi said, claiming that Hezbollah has turned villages into “large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launch pads into our territory.”
Israel and Hezbollah have sporadically exchanged fire over the past year, as the latter has supported the Palestinian cause in light of West Jerusalem’s military operation against Hamas.
West Jerusalem drastically escalated its campaign against the Shia militia group earlier this month, wounding thousands in a sabotage operation targeting the group’s handheld communication devices and subsequently bombarding southern Lebanon with airstrikes. The Israeli attacks have claimed at least 1,300 lives, according to the Lebanese health authorities.
The ABC report came just a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting what was described as the group’s main headquarters in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The militia confirmed its leader’s death early Saturday. No successor to Nasrallah has been named.
West Jerusalem stated later on Saturday that almost all of Hezbollah’s military leaders had been eliminated. It also shared a list of a dozen top commanders killed over the past few weeks.
Washington reacted to Nasrallah’s death by calling it “a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.” It also reiterated its full support for West Jerusalem’s “right to defend itself,” but added that the US seeks to de-escalate the conflict.
Russia has condemned the Israeli attacks in Lebanon, warning that they risk plunging the entire Middle East into war.
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