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Israel hints at Lebanon ground invasion.
Israel is getting ready for a possible ground operation against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon as US President Joe Biden warned against “all-out war” in the Middle East.
As Israel hints at Lebanon ground invasion, here are top points on Israel-Hezbollah conflict:
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- Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Israel’s army chief, told a tank brigade that they are “attacking” Lebanon to prepare the ground for the possibility of their entry into Lebanon, according to a statement on Wednesday,
- The Israeli military said it hit more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past three days.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah would not stop until northern residents displaced by cross-border clashes could safely return to their homes.
- Israel’s threat came after Hezbollah said it had targeted Israel’s Mossad spy agency headquarters on Tel Aviv’s outskirts — the first time it has fired a ballistic missile in almost a year of cross-border clashes sparked by the Gaza war.
- Israel’s close ally, the United States, said it did not think Israeli troops’ ground operation in Lebanon is “imminent”. “It doesn’t look like something is imminent,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. US President Joe Biden, however, warned of the possibility of “all-out war” in the Middle East. “An all-out war is possible,” he told a news channel.
- The US, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and some other partner nations called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border, according to a joint statement of the countries released late on Wednesday.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and warned, “Hell is breaking loose.”
- Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, denounced Israel’s raids and said the Middle East was facing a “full-scale catastrophe”. It also warned that Tehran would back Lebanon by “all means” if Israel escalated its offensive.
- Israel and Hezbollah members have been fighting across the Lebanese border after the war in Gaza erupted when Hamas, a Hezbollah ally also backed by Iran, attacked Israeli towns on October 7 last year.
