Security cabinet expected to make return of northern residents an official war goal
Unnamed security source tells Channel 12 Israel ‘should prepare for long war’ in north that could incur heavy costs, as Hezbollah continues attacks
Eleven months after tens of thousands of northern residents were displaced from their homes following Hamas’s October 7 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to bring a motion before the security cabinet on Sunday to make their return back home an official war goal.
Hezbollah has been attacking northern Israel, it says in support of Gaza, on a near-daily basis since October with rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles.
Israel has increasingly threatened to launch a major operation to push back Hezbollah from the border. With hopes for a Gaza ceasefire fading, the chances of a diplomatic deal with Hezbollah have also been looking slim.
The Walla news site reported Friday that US special envoy Amos Hochstein was set to meet with Israel’s leadership on Monday, in an attempt to avoid further escalation.
US officials told Walla that they were concerned by the increasingly belligerent rhetoric from Israel regarding Lebanon and were keen to avert a full-scale war.
Additionally, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF chief Herzi Halevi this week warned that Israel needed to turn its focus to Lebanon and prepare for a major operation.
An unnamed security source told Channel 12 news Friday that Israel “should prepare for a long war” in the north that could incur heavy costs.
Some 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes amid daily attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel. Israel has expressed openness to a diplomatic solution to the conflict, but has said it would launch an all-out war against Hezbollah to restore security to the north if an agreement isn’t reached.
Sirens sounded in northern Israel throughout Friday due to rocket and drones threats. Several drones impacted the Galilee, causing no damage.
Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Kawkaba, where several operatives were identified, the IDF said. Separately, the military said that a Hezbollah weapons depot, a rocket launcher used in a previous attack, and other buildings belonging to the terror group in Majdal Zoun, Jebbayn and Blida, were struck.
Lebanese media reported that two members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force were killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike on an apartment deep inside Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. The Al Manar channel, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said an apartment was hit in the western area of the valley.
Early Friday Hezbollah fired some 20 rockets toward the northern city of Safed, sparking a large blaze in a nearby forest and causing minor damage to a building in another community, authorities said.
No injuries were reported in the attack claimed by the Lebanese terror group, which said it had targeted a military installation in revenge for a deadly strike in southern Lebanon a day earlier.
The majority of rockets were intercepted and the remainder fell in uninhabited areas, according to the IDF.
The last several days have seen cross-border fire appear to intensify somewhat, with Hezbollah launching around 100 rockets into Israel on Wednesday and dozens more on Thursday.
Since October, the cross-border skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 438 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Emanuel Fabian and agencies contributed to this report.
