Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on September 22 that Hezbollah will “get the message” after a large rocket attack by the group hit deep into northern Israel.
“Over the past few days we hit Hezbollah with a string of strikes that it didn’t imagine,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “If Hezbollah didn’t get the message, I promise you, it will get the message.”
Hezbollah fired in the early morning more than a hundred heavy rockets at Ramat David Air Base and a military-industrial complex of the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in the Zevulun area. Both are located just under 50 kilometers from the border of Lebanon.
Hebrew media reported that a teenager was killed when he crashed his vehicle as sirens sounded during the attack, and at least three people were injured as a result of the rocket fire.
The Israeli military launched dozens of strikes against southern Lebanon before and after the attack, hitting rocket launchers and other targets of Hezbollah. Two fighters of the group were killed.
“We are determined to return our [displaced northern] residents safely to their homes. No country can tolerate [rocket] fire at its residents, [rocket] fire at its cities,” Netanyahu stressed. “The State of Israel cannot tolerate it either.”
Netanyahu also promised that Israel “will do everything necessary in order to restore security” along its border with Lebanon.
Separately, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Hezbollah was “beginning to feel some of our capabilities,” vowing that Israel will continue to operate against the group in order to allow displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
“Hezbollah has begun to feel some of the capabilities of the Israel Defense Forces… and we are seeing the results,” Gallant said during a tour of the Israeli Air Force’s command and control room this morning.
“These moves will continue until we reach a situation where we safely return the residents of the north to their homes. This is the goal, this is the mission, and we will do everything necessary to meet it,” he added.
Hezbollah said that its latest attacks were carried out in response to recent intense strikes on southern Lebanon as well as a retaliation to the September 17 and 18 sabotage attack that targeted communication devices used by its members across Lebanon.
The sabotage attack killed 39 people and left more than 3,450 others wounded. At least 45 others were killed, including Hezbollah top military commander Ibrahim Aqil, when Israeli strikes hit the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on September 20. The group is yet to respond to the assassination.
The clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border first broke out after the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip last October, with Hezbollah and its allies launching nearly-daily against the IDF in support of the Palestinian enclave.
So far, the clashes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as well as the deaths of at least 22 soldiers and security officers. On the Lebanese side, more than 900 people have been killed, including 500 fighters of Hezbollah and over 150 civilians.
Overall, Israel appears to be planning to launch a full-on war against Hezbollah Lebanon in order to make up for its failure in Gaza.
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