Israeli army chief tells troops to prepare for possible Lebanon ground invasion
By VOA News September 25, 2024
Israel's army chief told troops Wednesday to be prepared for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon even as Israeli fighter jets bombarded Hezbollah militant targets for a third straight day.
"You can hear the planes here; we are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told a tank brigade, according to a statement issued by the military.
"We are not stopping. We will keep attacking and harming them everywhere," Halevi said. "To do this, we are preparing for the course of the maneuver, and the sense is that your military boots, your maneuver boots, will enter enemy territory."
The army chief spoke to his troops just hours after Hezbollah launched a ballistic missile targeting the headquarters of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency near Tel Aviv. Israel shot down the missile, but Halevi warned, "Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves."
Israel also said it has activated reserve troops in response to the fight against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Lebanese health officials said Israeli strikes had killed another 50 people on Wednesday, bringing the death toll over three days to 615, with more than 2,000 wounded.
Despite the Israeli warnings, officials in Washington insisted there was still time for diplomacy and de-escalation.
"It doesn't look like anything is imminent," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said when asked about the prospects of a major Israeli ground operation against Hezbollah.
"What we're seeing on that northern border is an increase in the tit-for-tat, going- back-and-forth strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah," Singh told reporters Wednesday. "We still believe that there is time and space for diplomacy."
U.S. officials did voice concern that the fighting, combined with miscalculations and missteps, could bring on a bigger, more dangerous conflict.
"An all-out war is possible," President Joe Biden told the ABC talk show "The View" on Wednesday.
"What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region," he said.
The Pentagon described the U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire as a "full-court press."
"We want to see a diplomatic solution, and we want to see it urgently," Singh said, noting that the U.S. military was not providing Israel with any intelligence or military support for its operations in Lebanon.
But she said discussions with Israel have been constant.
"We do believe that Israel is listening," Singh said.
However, obstacles to a wider, regional de-escalation remain.
Negotiations for a cease-fire in the nearly yearlong war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have been at a stalemate for months.
The United Nations said more than 90,000 people have been displaced by the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, with many of them trying to flee north to Beirut, even as Israeli jets have also targeted sites in the capital.
Lebanon's state news agency reported heavy Israeli bombardments Wednesday hitting areas across southern Lebanon.
Israel's targets included dozens of ammunition depots, the Israeli military said. It added that about 40 Hezbollah rocket launches were detected, with some being intercepted by Israeli air defenses.
The escalated conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border was set to be the focus of a U.N. Security Council meeting later Wednesday in New York.
Pope Francis said Wednesday he was saddened by the situation in Lebanon and that the international community will need to work to stop what he called "this terrible escalation."
Diplomatic efforts to contain the fighting and prevent a wider regional conflict included a meeting Tuesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, during which Macron's office said he "highlighted the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and use its influence with destabilizing actors."
Iran is a backer of both Hezbollah and the Hamas militant group that Israel is fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Israel's killing of top Hezbollah commanders will not bring the group to its knees.
"The organizational strength and human resources of Hezbollah is very strong and will not be critically hit by the killing of a senior commander, even if that is clearly a loss," Khamenei said.
Israel said one of its strikes in Beirut's suburbs Tuesday killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kobeisi, identified by Israel as a senior Hezbollah military commander who oversaw the group's missile systems.
The conflict has also prompted some governments to urge their nationals to leave Lebanon. The United States announced it was sending more military personnel to the region to augment its existing forces, while Britain said it expected 700 of its forces to arrive Wednesday in Cyprus in preparation for potential evacuations of its nationals from Lebanon.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, "We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza."
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza last October 7, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The fighting has killed dozens of people in Israel, along with hundreds in Lebanon, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
The war in Gaza began with Hamas' October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, one-third of whom is believed to be dead.
Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks have killed more than 41,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry, with the Israeli military saying the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
Hamas has been designated a terror group by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and others. Hezbollah also is a U.S.-designated terror group.
VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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