Beirut/Jerusalem — Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said ground forces could be used against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, adding military operations will go on despite the killing of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Gallant made the comments while speaking to Israeli troops deployed to the northern border where cross-border fire with Hezbollah continued for nearly a year but escalated this month.
“We will use all the means that may be required — your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land,” Gallant said.
“The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one”.
Israel killed Nasrallah on Friday in an air strike on the Iran-backed group’s southern Beirut stronghold.
Israel had intensified air raids against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon from September 23, when Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 558 people were killed, in the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
Israeli officials have been hinting at a potential ground invasion into Lebanon, following attacks that decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and communications this month.
Fighting had been relatively contained until the current escalation.
Tens of thousands of Israeli residents were evacuated from their country’s northern border area nearly a year ago.
“Our goal is to ensure the (safe) return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes. We are prepared to make every effort necessary to accomplish this mission,” said Gallant
Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing the northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said Monday the movement was ready to face any Israeli ground operation, and warned that the battle could last a long time.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying that he opposes Israeli ground operations and called for a ceasefire in Lebanon
Also, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Monday urged Israel not to send ground troops into Lebanon, calling on Israel and the armed group Hezbollah to agree to a ceasefire immediately.
“I urge Israel to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire. I call on Hezbollah to do the same and refrain from any action that could destabilize the region,” Barrot told reporters in Beirut.
He called on the sides to agree to a truce put forward at the United Nations.
“It is still on the table. There is still hope, but there is little time,” Barrot said.
Paris and Washington, joined by Arab, Western and European countries, called last week for Israel and Hezbollah to agree an “immediate 21-day ceasefire” and to “give diplomacy a chance”.
Israel dismissed the plan, increasing its strikes on Lebanon’s south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs and on Friday killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Since mid-September, Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people, authorities said.
NETANYAHU WARNING TO IRAN
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a fresh warning to Iran Monday, saying there was no place in the Middle East beyond Israel’s reach amid a flurry of strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a video statement made in English, Netanyahu addressed the people of Iran and warned that their government was bringing them “closer to the abyss”.
“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you — the noble Persian people — closer to the abyss,” said Netanyahu.
“There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach,” the prime minister added, warning the people of Iran that their “regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war”.
“Don’t let a small group of theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams,” Netanyahu said.
Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who died alongside the Hezbollah leader on Friday.
In his video statement, Netanyahu expressed hope for a future “when Iran is finally free”, saying it would “come a lot sooner than people think”.
“Everything will be different,” he said. “Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. Iran will thrive as never before.”
Netanyahu’s comments came hours after Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said the country had no plans to send its fighters to directly confront Israel.
“There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories “have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression”.
Earlier Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah’s office in Tehran “to pay tribute” to Nasrallah, according to the government’s website.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who has the final say in all matters of the state in Iran — has vowed that Nasrallah’s death “will not be in vain”.
Khamenei said Israel was “too weak to cause significant damage to the solid construction of Hezbollah in Lebanon” and called on the “Axis of Resistance” to stand with Hezbollah.
“Lebanon will make the aggressor and the evil enemy regretful,” he said.