Israel has carried out a series of extensive strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, impacting the Iran-backed group’s positioning near the border.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, stated in a televised announcement on Friday, “We continue intensive strikes to hit Hezbollah’s deployment close to the northern border.”
“It no longer looks as it did on October sixth, nor will it,” he said referring to the situation on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah is entrenched.
Hagari mentioned that the recent synchronized air, tank, and artillery strikes targeted launch pads, military compounds, and militant squads.
Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel at the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking a conflict involving the heavily armed group and other Iran-aligned factions across the Middle East.
Iran supports Hamas but denies any involvement in the Islamist militants’ terror attack that triggered the current crisis. Tehran also denies any involvement in the recent attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthis, another group supported by Iran.
The violence has mainly been contained to areas at the border, following unwritten rules of engagement between adversaries that have long threatened each other with catastrophic damage in the event of war.
Israel has stated that it is not looking to open a front in the north. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cautioned that Beirut would be turned “into Gaza” if Hezbollah initiated an all-out war.
(With reporting by Reuters)