Netanyahu: Israel Poised for War in Lebanon

Netanyahu: Israel Poised for War in Lebanon, Partial Drawdown in Gaza

Sputnik

The Israeli Prime Minister said the country would direct its attention to its northern border, where Hezbollah has been carrying out rocket and drone attacks in response to the IDF’s deadly campaign in Gaza.

Israel is planning to remove some troops from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during an interview on Israeli television Sunday less than a week after the IDF reported it had approved plans for a possible military operation in Lebanon.

Forces would be redirected to the north of the country, he claimed, where Israel and the armed group Hezbollah have been trading fire for months.

“We will do this, first and foremost for defensive purposes,” Netanyahu said to the controversial Channel 14 network. “And secondly, to allow our residents to return home.”

Some 60,000 Israeli citizens have been evacuated from the country’s northern region since October of last year, with Tel Aviv funding temporary accommodations for the internal refugees. Hezbollah has continuously subjected the area to rocket and drone attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where more than 37,500 have been killed.

The conflagration on the border with Lebanon has caused a political and security headache for the Israeli government even as international media has focused on the country’s operation against Hamas.

Meanwhile the prime minister suggested Israel would remove some troops from Gaza shortly, claiming the end of its “intense phase” in the internationally-recognized Palestinian territory is “very close.” Netanyahu stressed the IDF would maintain a presence in the enclave but would seek to free up resources for potential fighting in Lebanon.

But observers have questioned Israel’s ability to challenge Hezbollah, one of the most heavily armed non-state groups in the world. The country was widely judged to have lost its 2006 war with the Palestinian resistance group, which has grown more powerful in the years since. Hezbollah is estimated to possess some 150,000 rockets and missiles, which it is able to procure much more cheaply than Israel’s US-provided armaments.