The IDF struck targets in Lebanon shortly before the group attacked Israel to avenge the death of its top commander
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah launch sites in southern Lebanon on Sunday is “not the end of the story,” and vowed more “surprising blows.”
The Israeli military has said it carried out preemptive strikes against the Lebanon-based militia after concluding that an attack by Hezbollah was imminent. Around 100 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, reportedly destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
The Islamic paramilitary group subsequently fired hundreds of rockets at Israel to avenge the death of its top commander, Fouad Shukr, who was killed in an airstrike on Beirut last month.
“What happened today is not the end of the story,” Netanyahu told a government meeting on Sunday.
“We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows. Three weeks ago, we eliminated its chief of staff [Fuad Shukr], and today we thwarted its attack plan,” he stated.
Multiple media reports indicated that US intelligence had helped thwart the Hezbollah attack, but Washington was not directly involved in the Israeli operation.
According to the Israeli prime minister, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes.”
Nasrallah has said in a statement that the first phase of its retaliation had been “completed successfully,” adding that Hezbollah would assess the impact of its strikes and “if the result is not enough, then we reserve the right to respond at a later time.”
White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said US President Joe Biden “is closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon.”
“We will keep supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and we will keep working for regional stability,” Savett added.
The US has bolstered its military presence in the Middle East, deploying two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region.
Israel and Hezbollah have routinely exchanged cross-border artillery and rocket fire since the war with Hamas in Gaza began in October, but the clashes have so far stopped short of a full-scale direct engagement.
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