JERUSALEM

The Israeli army said Friday that its preparing to take offensive actions inside the Lebanese territories.

“The IDF (army) is very focused on combat with Hezbollah, and preparing for offensive moves within the arena (Lebanon),” Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said during a situational assessment and tour in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

“I think that the number of strikes in the past month, operatives eliminated (from Hezbollah), rockets and infrastructure destroyed, is very high,” he added.

“The Northern Command, with all of the IDF's capabilities, is striking a lot of Hezbollah's capabilities in Lebanon before they can attack us, and at the same time, we are preparing for offensive moves within the arena,” he added.

Halevi noted that “this combination of very significant strikes on Hezbollah to reduce the threats to the residents in the north, including in the Golan Heights, is very, very significant together with readiness for an offensive going forward that we are very engaged in.”

There have been no comments from Lebanon and Hezbollah on Halevi’s statements as of yet.

Tensions have spiked along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv pressed ahead with its brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 40,900 people since last Oct. 7 following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio