JERUSALEM 

A mental health officer in the Israeli army has revealed that a new commander in one of the country's military brigades encouraged his soldiers to commit "genocide" in Lebanon, according to the country's state-run broadcaster.  

In an X post late Monday that was later removed, Adi Engert, the Alexandroni Brigade's mental health officer, sparked uproar by claiming that the brigade's new commander Col. Moshe Pesel "wishes for the fighters to commit genocide," reported the Israeli Broadcasting Authority. 

"The villages of Lebanon will become desolate, and its roads impassable," said a quote from a file that Col. Pesel sent to soldiers. Engert attached the comment to her post, images of which continued to circulate in Israeli media even after its removal. 

Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that Alexandroni Brigade soldiers have served more than 200 days in reserve duty since Oct. 7 on the borders with Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip. 

According to the broadcaster, Engert said that after Pesel took command, he sent a message to the brigade's soldiers, saying: "A new commander has joined the brigade. To begin with, I wish for the fighters to commit genocide." 

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also took to X after the post, questioning on Tuesday why action had not been taken by the army against Engert.

​​​​​​​On Sunday, Israeli warplanes launched over 40 airstrikes on southern Lebanon, the most severe attack since cross-border attacks between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023. The Israeli army claimed that the attacks aimed to prevent a rocket barrage by Hezbollah. 

The Lebanese group, for its part, said that it had launched hundreds of rockets and missiles deep into Israel as the “first phase” of its response to last month’s assassination of its senior commander Fouad Shukr in an airstrike in Beirut. 

Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been engaged in daily exchanges of fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border, resulting in hundreds of casualties, mostly on the Lebanese side. 

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which killed nearly 40,500 Palestinians since last Oct. 7 after a Hamas attack. The military campaign has reduced much of the territory to rubble and left most of the people homeless, hungry and prone to disease.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala