Netanyahu warns Hezbollah not to escalate conflict with Israel, hinting at possible ground campaign in southern Lebanon.
By World Israel News Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah not to escalate a simmering conflict with Israel, hinting that the IDF could respond with a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has fired dozens of rockets and missiles into Israeli territory since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization – another Iran proxy – on October 7th.
Israel has also foiled a number of terrorist infiltration attempts over the Lebanon-Israel border.
On Thursday, a 60-year-old Israeli farmer was killed when Hezbollah terrorists fired an anti-tank missile from southern Lebanon into the town of Mattat in northern Israel.
The missile struck a car, killing the driver.
In response, Israeli artillery pounded Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
Speaking at the IDF Northern Command’s headquarters Thursday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah not to push the conflict into a full-blown war, hinting at a possible ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
“If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Yunis,” Netanyahu said while meeting with IDF reservists at an artillery battery in in the Upper Galilee, near the Lebanese border.
“This evening we light Chanukah candles. In times of combat, this candle shines light, also out of grief for our heroic sons and daughters who have fallen, for our hostages whom we have not yet returned but whom we will return, for the wounded who are suffering and for the civilians who have also fallen in heroic battles.”