Tensions continue to rise between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the IDF. An Israeli army commander said Friday that troops in the north of the country, where Israel borders Lebanon, were preparing for a “decisive offensive” against Hezbollah after months of cross-border firefights.
The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire almost daily since the attack on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
In a speech during a trip to the north, Israeli General Ori Gordin told soldiers: “We have already eliminated more than 500 terrorists in Lebanon, the vast majority of them belonging to Hezbollah,” according to an army statement.
523 dead in Lebanon
Israeli troops in the north are currently operating to protect the residents of that part of the country and “prepare the transition to the offensive,” added General Gordin, commander of Israeli forces in the north. “When the time comes and we go on the offensive, it will be a decisive offensive,” he added.
Violence since October 8 between the Israeli army and Hezbollah has left at least 523 dead in Lebanon, the majority of them fighters, according to a toll established by AFP from different sources. Most of them, 342 people, were confirmed to be Hezbollah fighters, but the toll also includes 104 civilians. General Gordin did not mention civilian casualties. In northern Israel, at least 18 Israeli soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed, according to the army.
Iran-backed Hezbollah says its attacks on Israel since October 8 are aimed at supporting its ally Hamas.
Tens of thousands of residents have since been displaced in Lebanon and Israel due to the outbreak of cross-border violence.