Israel has “no intention of invading Lebanon” or staying there “for months,” according to its ambassador to France.
Israel has “no intention of invading Lebanon” or staying there “for months,” declared its ambassador to France on Tuesday, following the Israeli Army’s announcement overnight that ground troops had crossed the border to combat Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
“We have no intention whatsoever of invading Lebanon or repeating the mistake made in 1982,” when Israel invaded southern Lebanon and only withdrew its troops in 2000, stated Ambassador Joshua Zarka during an interview with France Inter radio.
“I don’t know whether it’s a matter of hours or days, but it’s certainly not a matter of months,” the Israeli diplomat added when questioned about the duration of this military intervention.
The Israeli Army announced on Monday night that it had begun “localized ground raids” in villages in southern Lebanon, targeting the Hezbollah militant group despite international calls for de-escalation.
Following the devastating blow to Hezbollah with the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in an Israeli strike in the southern suburb of Beirut, Israeli leaders warned that the war against the Iran-backed movement, an enemy of Israel, was far from over.
“The aim is really to force Hezbollah away from the border,” the ambassador explained. “The goal is not to invade all of Lebanon, or even all of southern Lebanon, but to clear a section of Lebanon along our border,” he emphasized.
“This is a war imposed on us. We did not choose to go to war with Lebanon, just as we did not choose to go to war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It was imposed on us by Hamas, and the next day by Hezbollah, which attacked us on October 8,” the diplomat said.
With AFP
