By The Diary
Sep 25, 2024, 7:44 PM EDT
As attacks between Israel and Hezbollah intensify, the army is preparing a possible ground operation in Lebanon, the Israeli defence forces said. “We will not stop, we will continue to attack,” they said.
The head of the Israeli Armed Forces urged his troops on Wednesday to be prepared for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the Israeli air force has carried out new “large-scale” bombings against the Islamist movement.
“Today we will continue, we will not stop, we will continue to attack and hit them from all sides,” said Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, chief of the General Staff.
“Residents of the North return safely”
“The goal is very clear: to bring the residents of the north back safely. To achieve this, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means that their military boots, their maneuver boots, will enter enemy territory,” he stressed.
The Israeli army previously announced the mobilization of two reserve brigades and their deployment in the north of the country, to “continue the fight” against Hezbollah.
Lieutenant Halevi also indicated that “they will enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points and launch pads on our territory and carry out attacks against Israeli civilians.”
“Broad attacks”
Israel continued its offensive against Hezbollah on Wednesday, carrying out “widespread strikes” in southern Lebanon and the Begaa area east of Beirut. The Israeli military claimed to have attacked 260 targets in Lebanon and more than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in the past three days.
“We continue to attack, we are not stopping, on the contrary, we are preparing in parallel to continue,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said, ABC News reported.
50 children killed in attacks
At least 636 people, including 50 children, have been killed and more than 1,700 wounded in Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Israel also called up thousands of troops to northern Israel, “for operational tasks along the northern front that will allow us to continue the war,” according to Hagari.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired its first long-range ballistic missile at Tel Aviv, targeting the Mossad headquarters, the news outlet said.
Hezbollah blames Mossad for assassinations
Hezbollah blames Mossad for recent assassinations of its top leaders and the explosions of its members’ pagers and handheld radios.
More than 90,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes over the past five days, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut will reopen several wings to receive the wounded. The hospital will have flags with the letter “H” on its roof to identify it from the bombings.
With information from ABC News
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