The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday postponed a massive exercise scheduled for next week in light of ongoing concerns of a reprisal attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group that continued to issue threats.
The military said it had also begun preparing ground, air and naval troops for the possibility of an outbreak of violence in northern Israel, specifically in the Galilee region.
Tensions with Hezbollah and its patron Iran have soared over the past week, after the IDF last Saturday night detected an attempt by Iranian operatives — including two Hezbollah members — in Syria to carry out an attack on northern Israel with armed drones and attacked their base, and following a drone attack in Beirut that reportedly destroyed key components of a joint Hezbollah-Iran project to manufacture precision-guided missiles in Lebanon, which has been attributed to Israel.
On Saturday night, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened that the response to last week’s events would come from Lebanon and could strike anywhere along the border, including Shebaa Farms, the site of a reprisal attack by Hezbollah in 2015 after several senior members of the group were killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the retaliatory strike and seven were injured.
Shebaa Farms, known in Hebrew as Mount Dov, and the adjacent Kfar Chouba hills are small patches of land captured by Israel from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967 and kept under Israel’s control since. Lebanon maintains that the strip of land is its territory, though it was under Syrian control from the 1950s until it was captured in 1967 along with the Golan Heights.
The IDF believes Hezbollah intends to again attack Israeli soldiers or a military installation on the border, and not civilians.
In light of the terror group’s threats, the Israeli military has been on high alert over the past week, restricting soldiers’ movements in vulnerable areas, canceling weekend leave for troops in the IDF Northern Command and reportedly sending artillery and other heavy equipment to the Lebanese border.
“In the past week, IDF troops — including ground, air, naval and intelligence forces — have improved their preparedness for a variety of scenarios in the area of the Northern Command and the Galilee Division,” the army said in a statement.
On Saturday night, the Iran-backed terror group released a new Hebrew-language video threatening to attack northern Israel, using portions of a speech made by Nasrallah following last week’s attacks and video footage apparently filmed along the border.
“I am telling residents of the north and residents of all of occupied Palestine, do not rest, do not relax for a second,” the terrorist leader shouts in Arabic with Hebrew subtitles, over images of northern Israeli towns.
The Israel Defense Forces sent artillery and other heavy equipment to the Lebanese border on Saturday, bolstering forces there as it remained on high alert in anticipation of a possible attack from Hezbollah.
There was no comment from the IDF, but TV news showed a convoy of transports hauling self-propelled howitzers toward the border.
Israel has been on high alert over fears of a reprisal attack from Hezbollah or another Iranian proxy following Israeli airstrikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria, and an armed drone attack on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, which has been blamed on Israel.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday the Lebanese terror group’s response to an alleged recent Israeli drone attack on its Beirut stronghold had been “decided.”
It is about “establishing the rules of engagement and… the logic of protection for the country,” he said in a televised speech, adding that Israel “must pay a price” for the assault.
His comments came in a speech to supporters Saturday night, a week after an alleged Israeli drone crashed on the roof of Hezbollah’s media office in southern Beirut, while another exploded and crashed nearby.
The Iranian-backed group said both drones were armed with explosives and were carrying out an attack mission.
Nasrallah threatened that the response to last week’s events would come from Lebanon and could strike anywhere along the border, including Shebaa Farms, the site of a reprisal attack by Hezbollah in 2015 after several senior members of the group were killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the retaliatory strike and seven were injured.
Shebaa Farms, known in Hebrew as Mount Dov, and the adjacent Kfar Chouba hills are small patches of land captured by Israel from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967 and kept under Israel’s control since. Lebanon maintains that the strip of land is its territory, though it was under Syrian control from the 1950s until it was captured in 1967 along with the Golan Heights.
The Israel Defense Forces believes Hezbollah intends to again attack Israeli soldiers or a military installation on the border, and not civilians.
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