Netanyahu says Hezbollah ‘will get the message’ after strikes it ‘never imagined’
PM says Israel determined to return displaced northern residents to their homes; Gallant says Iran-backed group ‘beginning to feel some of our capabilities’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed that Hezbollah will “get the message” after a series of dramatic operations against the Iran-backed terror group in recent days.
“Over the past few days we hit Hezbollah with a string of strikes that it didn’t imagine,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
“If Hezbollah didn’t get the message, I promise you, it will get the message,” he warned.
“We are determined to return our [displaced northern] residents safely to their homes. No country can tolerate [rocket] fire at its residents, [rocket] fire at its cities,” the premier said. “The State of Israel cannot tolerate it either.”
Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to leave their homes in northern Israel since October 8, when Hezbollah began launching near-daily attacks.
The comments came after the terror group expanded its range of rocket attacks in the early hours of Sunday to hit the greater Haifa area and the Jezreel Valley, putting some two million Israelis in range of its strikes.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that some 150 rockets, cruise missiles, and drones had been fired and launched at Israel since Saturday evening.
The rocket attacks came from Lebanon and were aimed at Israel’s north, while the drones and cruise missiles were launched from Iraq.
A teenager was killed in a traffic accident when a driver lost control of his vehicle during a siren warning of an incoming rocket, and three people were injured by shrapnel.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that Hezbollah is “beginning to feel some of our capabilities,” as he too vowed that Israel will continue to operate against the Lebanese terror group in order to allow displaced residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
“Hezbollah has begun to feel some of the capabilities of the Israel Defense Forces… and we are seeing the results,” Gallant said during a tour of the Israeli Air Force’s command and control room.
“These moves will continue until we reach a situation where we safely return the residents of the north to their homes. This is the goal, this is the mission, and we will do everything necessary to meet it,” he said.
The statements by Netanyahu and Gallant came after a number of blows to the Iranian proxy that brought the sides closer to a full-scale war.
On Friday, Israel assassinated top Hezbollah commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, along with other senior members of the terror group, in an airstrike on a residential building in Beirut.
The IDF said Aqil was overseeing a planned operation to invade the Galilee region of northern Israel.
The strike came after 30 members of the terror group were killed and thousands were wounded in pager and walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon last week. The attack was attributed to Israel, which has not commented.
Israel has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes in recent days, which the military said targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers primed to be fired.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 22 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 503 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 79 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
