Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel’s war with Islamic groups in the region has entered a new phase and the country will redirect its forces closer to the Lebanese border.
Speaking to soldiers at Ramat David air base on September 18, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the country would deploy more military resources to the northern border, where artillery battles between Israel and Hezbollah have been taking place for nearly a year.
“The focus is shifting north, which means we will allocate forces and resources to the northern region. We are entering a new phase of the war and we have to adapt,” said Secretary Gallant.
The comments came as neighboring Lebanon was rocked by a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions over the past two days that killed at least 32 people and injured more than 3,200.
The Lebanese government and Hezbollah have both accused Israel of being behind the attacks, but Israel has so far neither confirmed nor denied them.
Hezbollah said on September 17 that it would respond appropriately to the attack. The new developments raised concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continued to be deadlocked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told one of US President Joe Biden’s senior Middle East envoys this week that a full-scale conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah is increasingly likely.
Military action may be the only way to stop Hezbollah attacks and allow Israeli civilians to return to the northern border area, he said.
The United States, an ally of Israel, is trying to calm the situation. A White House official analyzed that a deeper conflict is not in Israel’s interests and will only risk a regional war.
