Israeli soldiers stand by, as a mobile artillery unit fires on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Gil Eliyahu
Israel’s top leaders have sent a clear warning to Hezbollah: Stop attacking Israel with rockets and other weapons, or the Jewish state will target the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon just as it’s decimating the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah not to escalate the current conflict during a visit to the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.
“Hezbollah got us wrong in a major way in 2006, and is getting us seriously wrong even now,” he told a group of Israeli soldiers, referring to the 34-day conflict known as the Second Lebanon War fought between Israel and the powerful Islamist group.
“Hezbollah made a big mistake with us in 2006 and it is making one now,” Netanyahu added. “It thought that we were like a spiderweb.”
Before the 2006 war, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah referred to Israeli society as a spiderweb, characterizing the Jewish state as weak. He reused that same metaphor in a November speech, saying, “Israel has revealed itself to be a weak state, as fragile as a spiderweb, and it needs American and Western support.”
Netanyahu said that Hezbollah knows such a characterization is false, adding, “It sees here tremendous power, the unity of a people, a determination to do whatever is necessary to restore security to the north, and I tell you — this is my policy.”
Hezbollah operates with impunity in Lebanon, where it wields significant political and military clout, and rules over large swathes of the southern part of the country.
The terror group and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire since the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in early October, forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the north to evacuate their homes. Fighting at the Lebanese border has intensified in recent weeks, leading to concerns that the conflict in Gaza — the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, another Iran-backed Islamist terror group, to Israel’s south — could escalate into a regional conflict.
“We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families — because many of you are from here — to return home in safety and to know that we are not to be trifled with,” Netanyahu told the soldiers on Monday. “We will do whatever is necessary.”
“Of course, we prefer that this be done without a widespread campaign,” the prime minister continued, expressing Israel’s wish to avoid conflict. “But that will not stop us.”
Netanyahu then warned Hezbollah that, should fighting continue to escalate, Israel is prepared to take its ongoing military campaign of air strikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza and use it against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We gave them an example of what is happening to their friends in the south; this is what will happen here in the north,” he said. “We will do everything to restore security.”
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 240 hostages. The Israeli government has pledged to bring all hostages home and destroy Hamas to the point that the terror group no longer poses a threat. At least 8,000 terrorists have been killed so far including key leaders, according to the Israeli military, which has destroyed much of the group’s infrastructure.
Netanyahu’s comments echoed remarks made by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday.
Gallant explained that Israel isn’t afraid to go to war with Hezbollah in Lebanon if pushed to the brink.
While Israel doesn’t seek such a war, the defense chief clarified, “80,000 people need to be able to go back to their homes safely,” he said, referring to Israelis who were forced to evacuate their homes near the northern border. But if all else fails, “we are willing to sacrifice.”
Gallant then warned Hezbollah, like Netanyahu, that Israel could target its fighters in Lebanon just as it’s currently doing to Hamas in Gaza.
“They [Hezbollah] see what is happening in Gaza,” Gallant said. “They know we can copy-paste to Beirut [the Lebanese capital].”
Elaborating on the dangers that Israel is facing, the defense minister said the source of both areas of conflict — Hamas to the south and Hezbollah to the north — is the same: Iran.
“My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy,” Gallant said. “Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it.”
Iran has provided arms, funds, and training to both Hamas and Hezbollah. All three have the stated aim of seeking Israel’s destruction.
