Israeli Defense Minister Israel Kats said today that he asked the country’s military to prepare “to expand” its operations in Lebanon, where Israel is conducting strikes against the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah.
“The Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) and myself have given orders to the Israeli army to prepare to expand its operations in Lebanon,” Katz noted in a statement.
“I warned Lebanon’s President (Joseph Aoun) that if his government fails to control the country’s territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern Israeli communities and shooting against Israel, we will take territory and we will do it,” he said.
In addition, Israel announced that Hezbollah launched its most widespread attack against its territory since the start of the war “simultaneously” with Iran last Wednesday night.
“Last night Hezbollah coordinated a simultaneous attack with Iran, firing rockets and drones against cities and towns across Israel. Figures show about 200 rockets and about 20 drones,” Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Nandav Shosani told reporters.
“All of this was combined with ballistic missiles launched by Iran at the same time,” he added. Shosani said it was “the largest barrage of missiles” launched by Hezbollah since the start of the war, although only “two or three direct strikes” have been recorded.
The Shiite Lebanese group had indicated yesterday that it had launched a widespread missile attack against Israel, while the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said Tehran had carried out a “joint and integrated” attack operation with its ally Hezbollah targeting Israeli territory.
Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when the Shiite, pro-Iranian Hezbollah group launched an attack on Israel to avenge the death of Iran’s supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei.
In addition, a new Israeli strike overnight targeted Beirut’s seaside neighborhood of Ramlet al-Bayda, where displaced people are sleeping in tents, killing eight people and wounding 31, according to an official count.
So far the war has killed more than 630 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 800,000.
This was Israel’s third strike on the centre of the Lebanese capital since the start of the war, following an attack on a hotel on Sunday and a raid on an apartment yesterday, Wednesday.
Yesterday, Israel also targeted Aramoun, a neighborhood in southern Beirut that is not among Hezbollah’s strongholds. Three people were killed and one child was wounded in that strike, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry’s initial account.
