Benjamin Netanyahu assures that Israel is “ready” for a “very intense” operation on the Lebanese border

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, affirmed on Wednesday June 5 that Israel was “ready for a very intense operation” on its northern border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire between the army and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah are daily. This statement comes in the middle of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, of which Hezbollah is an ally.

“One way or another we will restore security there,” the Israeli prime minister said during a visit near the border with Lebanon. His far-right allies, Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have both called in recent days for urgent action to restore security in northern Israel. In the north of the country, Hezbollah rocket and drone fire caused several fires on Monday. Bezalel Smotrich said the Israeli army should invade Lebanon and repel “hundreds of thousands of Lebanese” of the border area between the two countries.

At least 455 dead in Lebanon, the majority combatants and nearly 90 civilians, died on the Lebanese border, according to an AFP count. On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in these clashes, according to the authorities.