Gallant: Preemptive strike was ‘very, very successful,’ Hezbollah ‘thrown off balance’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Hezbollah was “thrown off balance” and its attempted attack on Israel this morning failed.

Speaking to officers at the IDF Operation Directorate’s command room, Gallant says Israel’s ability to “remove the threat” of Hezbollah’s attack minutes before it was supposed to be carried out was “very, very successful.”

“The enemy planned to launch many hundreds of rockets towards the northern communities. The preemptive action meant that over fifty percent, maybe two-thirds of them were not launched,” Gallant says.

“We hit the enemy before it launched [the attack] and threw it off balance,” he continues.

“We have to look at the overall view of the war. We are at a strategic crossroads and we need to take advantage of the negotiations to bring about the release of the hostages, and through the release of the hostages, to also open up the [possibility] of an agreement [with Hezbollah], in the north and later also to calm the region,” Gallant says.

“We are operating militarily and are preparing as if we will not reach an agreement and we are ready at any moment for war in the north… but this is not our preferred way, and we still give a chance to the possibility of an agreement,” he adds.