Israel’s military killed “terrorist infiltrators” from Lebanon on Monday as the former’s security situation has grown dire following on the largest terror attacks in history.
The developing situation on Israel’s northern border raises the possibility that Israel may soon find itself fighting a war in the south against Hamas in Gaza and one in the north against Hezbollah. Both groups are U.S.-designated terror organizations.
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The unfolding situation on Israel’s northern border comes as the country is facing one of the most perilous security situations in the country’s history following this weekend’s unprecedented terrorist attacks in the south. Hamas militants from Gaza launched a highly coordinated multipronged attack in southern Israel on Saturday morning that has left at least 700 Israelis dead with another roughly 500 Gazans killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes.
While Israeli Defense Forces conduct retaliatory strikes in Gaza, there are concerns that Hezbollah could attack at Israel’s northern border, depleting IDF’s resources by having to fight on two fronts.
IDF said it had killed “a number of terrorist infiltrators who crossed from Lebanon into Israel,” while spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that “IDF helicopter gunships are currently attacking Lebanese territory” as the situation unfolds.
Israel’s military also said it is “highly prepared and alert in the northern command and have aerial and ground forces present there.”
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said he doesn’t want “to enter the ongoing war and we are striving for that” in a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, adding that it’s a priority to “maintain security and stability in southern Lebanon,” according to CNN.
Sarit Zehavi, the founder of the Alma Research and Education Center, which is an Israeli-based research center focused on national security, told the Washington Examiner that there’s a chance Hezbollah could soon attack Israel as the military is focused on the situation in the south.
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“It’s just a matter of decision for Hezbollah, whether it wants to join in or not. I believe this decision was not made yet and that’s why we’re not there yet, but maybe we’re not that far from this place,” she explained. “Here in Israel, we are preparing for the scenario of war also from the north because we understand it was within the interest of Iran and Hezbollah to escalate the Israeli-Lebanese border.”
In May, IDF military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva said the “chances of an escalation that could deteriorate into war [with Lebanon] is not low” and that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was in danger of “making a mistake that could plunge the region into a big war” after Nasrallah claimed his group could “rain down our precision missiles” on Israel.
