Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel had “landed a series of blows on Hezbollah” after a night of intense cross-border fire and attacks this week in Lebanon.
“In recent days, we have landed a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never imagined. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I assure you it will get the message,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“No country can tolerate attacks on its citizens, attacks on its cities. And we, the State of Israel, will not tolerate it either,” he said, vowing to return residents of northern Israel displaced by nearly a year of fighting to their homes.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Hezbollah is beginning to feel some of Israel’s capabilities, vowing that Israel will continue to operate against the Lebanese militant group in order to allow displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
“Hezbollah has begun to feel some of the capabilities of the Israel Defense Forces… and we are seeing the results,” Gallant said during a tour of the Israeli Air Force’s command and control room this morning.
“These moves will continue until we reach a situation where we safely return the residents of the north to their homes. This is the goal, this is the mission, and we will do everything necessary to meet it,” he added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave an interview in the morning with Trevor Phillips on Britain’s Sky News channel during which he discussed the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
“We kept on being restrained and restrained and restrained, but something has to end. We have to bring our citizens back to their homes. That’s the most natural obligation of any nation to its citizens,” Herzog said.
When asked if Israel is not at war with Lebanon, he said that “Israel is not interested to be at war with Lebanon.”
He explained that “all of these leaders who were eradicated on Friday by the Israeli attack, all of these leaders were meeting together in order to launch the same horrific, horrendous attack that we had on October 7th by Hamas.”
