Israel, citing Hezbollah rocket strikes, warns of war in Lebanon
As rockets from Iran-backed Hezbollah forces poured in from Lebanon, Israeli officials said they were ready to wage war on a second front.
As Israel pounded targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and sea on Wednesday, a member of the country's war cabinet threatened to act on a second front, along the border with Lebanon, where Iranian forces Hezbollah-backed militia have fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
“I say to our friends around the world: the situation on the northern border requires change,” the war cabinet member said. , Benny Gantz told reporters. “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government do not act to stop the fire against northern communities and push Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF will not be able to cope. Will do that." The reference was to the Israel Defense Forces.
The threat of a broader war has preoccupied the United States and its allies since the start of the conflict in Gaza, and has only grown as three Iranian-backed groups – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen – launch attacks on Israel as well as commercial shipping in the Red Sea. This concern prompted the United States to send two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in the weeks following the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Tensions increased further this week after Iran. accused Israel of killing the brigadier. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi, senior advisor to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, during a missile strike in Syria. On Wednesday, a procession of mourners accompanied his body through the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, and a representative of the Revolutionary Guards, Ramezan Sharif, again threatened reprisals against Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Indications of the division between Israel's adversaries emerged on Wednesday when Mr. Sharif claimed that the Hamas attack on October 7 was not motivated by long-standing grievances with Israel, but by the killing in 2020 of Major General Qassim Suleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a US drone. strike in Iraq. Hamas immediately rejected the suggestion.
US officials have been cautious about the risk that retaliatory attacks in the region could escalate into a wider regional fight, But early Tuesday, the United States carried out a series of airstrikes in Iraq on facilities it said were used by Iranian proxies. The strikes followed a series of attacks by militants in Iraq, including a drone attack hours earlier on an air base in Erbil in which three US service members were injured.
An Israeli official said Wednesday that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken plans to visit Israel in early January to discuss the war in Gaza and plans for how the territory Palestinian will be governed at the end of the conflict. This visit will be Mr. Blinken's fourth to the region since the October 7 attacks. On each of his previous trips, Mr. Blinken also stopped in several Arab capitals.
As rockets from Iran-backed Hezbollah forces poured in from Lebanon, Israeli officials said they were ready to wage war on a second front.
As Israel pounded targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and sea on Wednesday, a member of the country's war cabinet threatened to act on a second front, along the border with Lebanon, where Iranian forces Hezbollah-backed militia have fired barrages of rockets into Israel.
“I say to our friends around the world: the situation on the northern border requires change,” the war cabinet member said. , Benny Gantz told reporters. “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government do not act to stop the fire against northern communities and push Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF will not be able to cope. Will do that." The reference was to the Israel Defense Forces.
The threat of a broader war has preoccupied the United States and its allies since the start of the conflict in Gaza, and has only grown as three Iranian-backed groups – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen – launch attacks on Israel as well as commercial shipping in the Red Sea. This concern prompted the United States to send two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in the weeks following the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Tensions increased further this week after Iran. accused Israel of killing the brigadier. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi, senior advisor to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, during a missile strike in Syria. On Wednesday, a procession of mourners accompanied his body through the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, and a representative of the Revolutionary Guards, Ramezan Sharif, again threatened reprisals against Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Indications of the division between Israel's adversaries emerged on Wednesday when Mr. Sharif claimed that the Hamas attack on October 7 was not motivated by long-standing grievances with Israel, but by the killing in 2020 of Major General Qassim Suleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a US drone. strike in Iraq. Hamas immediately rejected the suggestion.
US officials have been cautious about the risk that retaliatory attacks in the region could escalate into a wider regional fight, But early Tuesday, the United States carried out a series of airstrikes in Iraq on facilities it said were used by Iranian proxies. The strikes followed a series of attacks by militants in Iraq, including a drone attack hours earlier on an air base in Erbil in which three US service members were injured.
An Israeli official said Wednesday that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken plans to visit Israel in early January to discuss the war in Gaza and plans for how the territory Palestinian will be governed at the end of the conflict. This visit will be Mr. Blinken's fourth to the region since the October 7 attacks. On each of his previous trips, Mr. Blinken also stopped in several Arab capitals.
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