Netanyahu updates Putin, operation in Lebanon ‘is just beginning’

Netanyahu updated the Russian president on the IDF operation in Lebanon and, in a press statement the same evening, said that the work “is just beginning.”

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday evening and updated him on the details of Operation Northern Shield and Israel’s continuing intention to foil the tunnel threat.

They agreed that security delegations from their countries will convene soon and that a meeting between the two leaders will be coordinated.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s policy to prevent the establishment of an Iranian presence in Syria and to act against Iranian and Hezbollah aggression.

On Thursday, the IDF discovered a second Hezbollah tunnel extending into an Israeli apple orchard, just 200 meters from Israel’s border with Lebanon.

“The IDF and the security establishment are continuing to operate in the north with great success. They are systematically and decisively eliminating Hezbollah’s tunnel weapon,” the prime minister said in a statement to the press Saturday night.

“This operation is just beginning; equanimity and patience are required. We will continue to work until it is completed; this is what we will do,” he declared.