After the Israeli Chief of staff statements… Israeli Defense Minister: As long as the fighting in Gaza continues there will be fighting with Hezbollah

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that it’s possible that military confrontations with the Lebanese Hezbollah will expand if a political settlement isn’t reached that allows for a change in the security situation on the border.

This came when Gallant inspected army forces near the border with Lebanon, this Friday evening, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Gallant said, “The result of the operation against Hezbollah is a good result according to what we determined”.

He added, “We confront and thwart infiltration attempts… We push Hezbollah away from the border fence, we strike it, we target its members even inside villages, and even within natural reserves, and we target anti-tank missiles and those who try to launch them”.

Gallant pointed out that it’s estimated that as long as fighting continues in the south of Gaza, there will be fighting in the north on the border with Lebanon”.

He added, “I don’t want war, nor do I want to consider it a first option, so we are trying to exhaust the consensual option, but if we have to use force to return the people of the North to their homes – we will use it… The army is ready to protect the country’s citizens”.

Gallant’s words came, after the Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said on Wednesday that the possibility of a war breaking out with Hezbollah in the coming months is great.

During his visit to inspect training for reserve soldiers near the border with Lebanon, Halevy confirmed that Israel is increasing its preparedness for confrontation in Lebanon.

Halevy said while inspecting reserve forces near the border with Lebanon, “I don’t know when war will break out in the north, but I can say that the probability of it occurring in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past”.

The Israeli Chief of Staff continued, “We want to reach a very clear goal in Lebanon – which is to return the Israeli population to all the towns in the north… We understand that this has to go through a very important change”.

He stressed that achieving the goal of returning residents who fled during the clashes with Hezbollah requires major change.

He added that many lessons were learned from the experience in the Gaza Strip, which are considered closely related to preparing for the fighting in Lebanon, noting the importance of adapting those lessons.

Halevy said that he believes that the Israeli army will enter the war on the northern border with capabilities, surprises, and when we have to, we will advance with all our might.

With the outbreak of the war, about 160,000 Israelis evacuated their homes located in the settlements near the Gaza Strip, as well as those near the border with Lebanon, after Hezbollah entered as a front supporting the Hamas movement in the war that Israel is waging against the Gaza Strip.

The border between Lebanon and Israel has witnessed tension and intermittent exchange of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.