IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that Israel is close to making a decision regarding Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel amid the Gaza war.
“We are approaching the point where a decision will have to be made, and the IDF is prepared and very ready for this decision,” Halevi said during an assessment with military officials and Fire Commissioner Eyal Caspi, at an army base in Kiryat Shmona.
“We have been attacking for eight months, and Hezbollah is paying a very, very high price. It has increased its strengths in recent days and we are prepared after a very good process of training… to move to an attack in the north,” he said.
“[We have] strong defense, readiness to attack, [and] we are approaching a decision point,” he added.
Halevi and Caspi later met with firefighters who worked to extinguish large blazes in northern Israel over the past two days, some of which were sparked by Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks.
The war cabinet met on Tuesday night to discuss the latest developments along the border with Lebanon amid criticism of the government for failing to bring security to the region after long months of conflict.
Amid the clashes, a military reservist was moderately wounded by shrapnel from an interceptor missile launched over the northern city of Safed earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, adding that it launched the interceptor after identifying a “suspicious aerial target” in the north. It was later revealed to have been a false alarm.
The interceptor shrapnel also sparked a fire in Biriya Forest near Safed. By the afternoon, 10 firefighting teams, along with a firefighting plane, were working to extinguish the fire, according to Fire and Rescue services. The Merom Hagalil Regional Council said earlier that the blaze did not pose a threat to nearby communities.
Firefighters were also battling to control a blaze at Keren Naftali, while fires in Kiryat Shmona, Manara and Kfar Giladi, caused by the Hezbollah projectiles, were under control.
Meanwhile, new satellite imagery showed the devastation wrought by some of the large fires in northern Israel in recent days sparked by Hezbollah’s rockets and drones.
Images from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite, processed by the Sentinel Hub website, showed scorched land south of the Golan Heights city of Katzrin.
The large fire was sparked by a barrage of rockets and several drones launched by Hezbollah at the area on Sunday. According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, bushfires consumed 10,000 dunams (over 2,470 acres) of foliage in open areas, including nature reserves.
Across the border, a Hezbollah operative was killed in an IDF drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura earlier Tuesday, the military said.
The IDF also said it carried out an airstrike against Hezbollah infrastructure and buildings in Ayta ash-Shab and Odaisseh.
Troops meanwhile shelled a number of areas in southern Lebanon with artillery to “remove threats,” the army said.
Ben Gvir demands ‘war’
Following harsh criticism by his political opponents over the deteriorating situation, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.
After a situational assessment with fire and rescue officials and meetings with local police and Mayor Avichai Stern, Ben Gvir released a video in which he demanded stronger military action in Lebanon.
“We finished a situation assessment and a visit to Kiryat Shmona. I think it’s amazing to see firefighters risking their lives, policemen who are here 24/7,” he said. “And now the IDF’s job is to destroy Hezbollah.”
Ben Gvir said it is unacceptable that “our land is under fire and we are being hurt, that people here are evacuating,” while there is “quiet in Lebanon.”
“They’re burning [us] here. All Hezbollah strongholds should be burned, they should be destroyed. War!” he cried.
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