IDF is preparing for ‘expansion of war,’ Northern Command chief tells heads of evacuated communities

The head of the IDF’s Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin met with mayors and council heads of the evacuated communities in the north to discuss the security situation along the Lebanon border, the IDF says in a statement.

Gordin assured the local officials that the military’s goal is “to change the security situation in the north in a way that will allow the residents to return safely and with a sense of security,” and said that the IDF is continuing “to prepare for the expansion of the war and going on the offensive” against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Since October 8, the Lebanon-based terror group has launched rockets, missiles and drones at Israel’s northern communities on a near-daily basis.

As a result, some 80,000 people have become internally displaced, in addition to those displaced by the Hamas assault on southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.

Gordin told the local council heads that the military will continue “to harm Hezbollah and negate its capabilities,” the statement adds.

“The residents of the north are our strength to continue, they are the backbone that enables the achievements we have reached in the north so far,” he concluded.