7 July 2024

Israel Poised For Hezbollah War: 'The Situation Here Must Change'

Ellie Cook

Stretching several miles from the Lebanon border into northern Israel is what local officials refer to as a "dead zone." Tens of thousands of residents have fled further south. The area's agriculture industry has evaporated, and its tourism is non-existent.

Civil authorities and military units in northern Israel are now steeling themselves for a full-scale war with Lebanese-based militant group, Hezbollah, as military preparations on the border reflect increasingly outspoken comments from current and former Israeli officials.

"The situation here must change," Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Oren, an Israeli officer stationed in northern Israel, told journalists gathered in the settlement of Mitzpe Hila, around five miles from Israel's border with Lebanon. "We have clear plans."

Shortly after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out its unprecedented attack on southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, Iran-backed Hezbollah quickly began targeting northern Israel from southern Lebanon with drones, rockets and missiles in what it has described as solidarity with Hamas. Israel sent reinforcements to the northern border at the time.

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