After nearly 48 hours of heavy exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, where for the first time Haifa and even as far south as Yokneam were sent running to shelters, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke out on what is clearly becoming a full scale war between Israel and Lebanon.
“We inflicted a series of blows on Hezbollah. If Hezbollah did not get the message, I promise you – it will get the message now,” Netanyahu said.
He also said, “On October 7th, the Hamas terrorist monsters burst into Israel, murdered our people, raped and beheaded our women, burnt babies alive, and took 255 innocent people hostage, including many Americans.”
“A day later, on October 8th, another Iranian terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, attacked Israel completely unprovoked. They fired missiles and rockets into our cities. They made 60,000 Israelis leave their homes along the Lebanon border, becoming refugees in their own land. In the subsequent months, they haven’t stopped for a single day attacking us,” Netanyahu said.
“No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities. We can’t accept it either,” he declared. “We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safely back to their homes.”
Last night’s airstrikes on southern Lebanon were the biggest since the war began last October with Israel striking Southern Lebanon 180 times - taking out hundreds of rocket launchers.
With both sides prepared to go all out, Israel will ultimately be forced to send in ground troops to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River.