Israeli army says it's ready to launch offensive against Hezbollah

JERUSALEM

Israel is prepared to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon and is nearing a decision on the matter, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Tuesday.

Halevi's statement came following an assessment of the situation on Israel’s northern border with Eyal Kaspai, the commissioner of Israel's National Fire and Rescue Authority, and several military leaders, according to a statement from the army.

Since Sunday, settlements and towns in northern Israel have witnessed numerous fires due to Hezbollah launching rockets and explosive-laden drones from Lebanon.

“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the Israeli army is prepared and very ready for this decision,” said Halevi.

“We have been attacking for eight months, and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. It has increased its strengths in recent days, and we are prepared after a very good process of training…to move to an attack in the north,” he added.

“We have strong defense, a readiness to attack, (and) we are approaching a decision point.”

Israeli firefighting teams are continuing efforts to extinguish fires in Keren Naftali and forests in the ​​Birya area near the city of Safed in the Upper Galilee which erupted after rockets were fired by Hezbollah earlier Tuesday.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited Boris Eisenberg, the head of the Tiberias fire station, as saying that “the fire has consumed some 1,000 acres of land. According to estimates, together with fires in the Golan Heights, more than 2,500 acres of forest and greenery were scorched, a third of which was part of nature reserves.”

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

It comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed over 36,400 people since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala