Israeli leaders stepped up their threats against Hezbollah on Tuesday, asserting that the strikes launched on Monday will continue until displaced northern populations return home.
“We will continue to strike Hezbollah. I say to the Lebanese people: our war is not against you, our war is against Hezbollah,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning.
“Whoever has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his garage won’t have a home,” he warned in a video released by his office, recalling his army’s Monday appeals to residents of southern Lebanon and the Beqaa to evacuate homes where Hezbollah weapons are believed to have been stored.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan “Nasrallah is leading you to the edge of the abyss (…) it is because of him that your country is in danger,” he said, encouraging the Lebanese to “free themselves from Hezbollah’s grip.”
For Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Israeli strikes in Lebanon are not going to stop. “To resolve the conflict (with Hezbollah) we need to bring our displaced people home. Above all, we have to eliminate the threat to Israel’s northern border, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” he declared.
In an interview with US channel CNBC, the Israeli president stressed that Hezbollah will not stop attacking Israel because Hamas does not want a hostage deal.
“Nasrallah has decided to continue the war because we are trying to negotiate a hostage agreement, and the Hamas leader, Sinwar, in the Gaza underground, says no, again and again no,” he continued, noting the close liaison between Hamas and Hezbollah. “We have shown our capabilities and we have many more at our disposal if they continue,” he threatened, stating that Israel is not at war with the Lebanese people.
As for former Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, he did not rule out a ground incursion into Lebanese territory, “if Nasrallah does not stop firing at Israel.”
