Netanyahu warns Israel will launch ‘intensive war’ if Hezbollah breaks truce

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced this Thursday that he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to be used forcefully if Hezbollah breaks the ceasefire that came into force this Wednesday, amid already accusations of the parts that would have been broken these last few hours.

Netanyahu has said that if a “large-scale violation” of the ceasefire occurs, the IDF is ordered not only to carry out the type of “precise operations” it has carried out so far, but also to launch an “intensive war.” .

In statements to Channel 14, the first to a media outlet since the announcement of the truce, Netanyahu has announced that the ceasefire in Lebanon “may be brief”, but it will not be because of Israel, which “has enforced it since first day.”

On the other hand, the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Herzi Halevi, has assured that the Israeli military authorities will work to ensure that the truce is complied with. “We are going to enforce the law, nothing less than that. We will enforce it with fire and with much, much force,” he said.

“This agreement is the result of months of fighting, particularly the last three months. Many achievements have been achieved in Lebanon, there has been intense work, with great determination, the entire upper echelon, all the commanders, have been murdered” , Halevi has asserted, according to ‘The Times of Israel’.

According to Halevi, the war has now entered another “stage,” but the IDF will continue to operate “with the same determination.” “We know exactly that Hezbollah reached this agreement from a position of lack of choice and weakness,” stressed the head of the Israeli Armed Forces.

Israel and Hezbollah reached an agreement on Tuesday for a ceasefire of about 60 days on the basis of which the parties must abandon southern Lebanon in favor of that country’s regular Army, which must take positions in the area to guarantee security. from northern Israel.

The spike in hostilities in Beirut and southern Lebanon is part of the clashes that began more than a year ago after Hezbollah attacked Israel a day after the Hamas offensive on October 7, 2023.

On October 1, the IDF unleashed a new invasion of Lebanon after weeks of intense bombing and attacks, including the coordinated explosion of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies linked to Hezbollah. The attacks on Lebanon have decimated Hezbollah, which has lost its historic leader, Hasan Nasrallah.