There has actually been a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon since mid-April. Netanyahu, however, pointed to continued attacks by Hezbollah. The militia attacks Israel with drones, including fiber optic drones. But Israeli teams were already working on “countermeasures” against these drone attacks.
“We will increase our attacks, increase our firepower, and we will crush them,” said the Israeli leader.
Two right-wing extremist ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet had previously called for an expansion of military operations in Lebanon. It is time for Netanyahu, together with US President Donald Trump, to “take a decisive stance and tell him that Israel is entering the war in Lebanon again,” said Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in the online service X.
“Lebanon’s power supply must be cut off, the Sahrani must be taken and intensive warfare resumed,” Ben Gvir continued. He was referring to a river in southern Lebanon that flows further north than the current Israeli military operation.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for attacks on the Lebanese capital Beirut to counter Hezbollah drone attacks. “It is urgent to end the threat posed by Hezbollah’s explosive drones,” Smotrich said on Telegram. “For every explosive drone, ten buildings must collapse in Beirut.”
Smotrich said he had approved a special budget of around two billion shekels (around 590 million euros) to enable the defense sector to develop countermeasures against the drones.
The Israeli army had already increased its air strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday. Their attacks targeted targets in the cities of Tire and Nabatije and other places, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported. Three people were killed while traveling in two cars and on a motorcycle.
Lebanon was drawn into the Iran war at the beginning of March. In response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia fired rockets into Israel. Israel then launched massive strikes on targets in southern Lebanon and sent ground troops across the border.
According to the latest tally from the Lebanese Ministry of Health on Monday, 3,185 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since March 2nd. According to Israeli information, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.
The US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was recently extended. Nevertheless, Israel and Hezbollah continued their attacks on each other. Hezbollah, whose declared goal is the destruction of Israel, rejects both direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel and the ceasefire between the two sides.
