Hezbollah ops. on Lebanon-Palestine border haunt Israeli officials
4 Min Read
Israeli officials express growing concern about the situation on the northern border with Lebanon as Resistance operations continue, amid reports of settlements being evacuated.
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Smoke billows on the outskirts of the village of Kfar Chouba, along Lebanon's southern border with occupied Palestinian territories following Israeli bombardment on December 20, 2023. (AFP)
Former Israeli Security Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, on Wednesday, "What is happening in the North is extremely dangerous."
He said that all the settlements adjacent to the fence look like the Jabalia refugee camp, destroyed by Israeli occupation forces.
"Half of the houses are destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people have become refugees and have nowhere to return, and they continue to systematically demolish more houses," he said.
In reference to the challenging situation in the North, Lieberman stated that "200,000 citizens have become refugees, with 100,000 people in the North alone."
Lieberman stated that resolving the situation in the South would be a prolonged process, highlighting that opening a war in the North is not feasible "until we conclude matters in the South." He further underscored the precariousness of what he termed "Israel's security and national honor."
He also highlighted that the threat from the North is much bigger than that they are facing in the South, adding that someone in the cabinet decided to forsake al-Jalil.
Also addressing the situation in northern occupied Palestine, Israeli war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said it "requires change".
“The hourglass for a diplomatic arrangement is running out,” he added, pledging that the Israeli army will take action to "push Hezbollah away from the border" if Lebanon and the international community fail to take action.
Anxiety grips northern settlers, fear Al-Jalil ground op: Reports
The Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that several regional council heads of northern settlements have convened to discuss the dire conditions that the settlers in the north are going through.
The newspaper's correspondent in the north explained that the talks regarding the battle there primarily focused on retaliating against Hezbollah and catering to the tens of thousands of displaced settlers.
They also observed that, in addition to the severe economic losses, there is a regional sense of distress and anxiety following the events of October 7 and, most importantly, uncertainty about when the residents will be able to return.
The correspondent reported that local authorities in the north have been requesting budgets for years to protect tens of thousands of settlers on the front lines along the Lebanese border.
Despite having long feared the moment of truth, the correspondent added that they did not anticipate facing a battle like this.
For 80 days, the northern settlements have been on edge, anticipating an imminent war, the correspondent reported. They dread the war because they understand the tremendous risks that the war holds.
Mayor of "Kiryat Shmona", Avihai Stern, said they were not surprised by the events of October 7 but had rather experienced the manifest danger of a threat they had long dreaded, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted him saying.
On his part, Arkadi Bomrani, the mayor of the "Ma'alot-Tarshiha" settlement, which is located about 6.5 km away from the Lebanese border and inhabited by about 26,000 settlers, said that after evacuating all the surrounding settlements, "Ma'alot-Tarshiha" became the front line of fighting in the area.
Bomrani said that despite not being in a state of war, a general mood of despair has gripped the settlements in light of this limbo state of war anxiety.
"We sit in the shelters, knowing that we have to hide. This an intolerable unsustainable situation."
Read more: Hezbollah hits Israeli artillery units; northern settlers in disarray
