Israeli defense minister says new phase of war with Hezbollah ‘includes significant risks’

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Thursday evening that the new phase of the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon includes significant risks.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in Israel said Gallant made the comments during a meeting with senior military and security officials, including Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

“In the new phase of the war, there are significant opportunities but also significant risks,” he said. “We have conducted a series of important discussions in recent days, and as a result, military operations along the northern border (with Lebanon) will continue.’

It follows two waves of explosions that targeted thousands of communication devices in Lebanon, predominantly used by Hezbollah members, resulting in 37 deaths and thousands of injuries.

Beirut and Hezbollah have attributed responsibility for the attacks to Tel Aviv.

Gallant said Hezbollah “feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue.”

He clarified that Israel's goal is to safely return residents in the north to their homes, and over time, Hezbollah will pay “an increasing price.”

Gallant said Wednesday that a “new phase” of the war in the Gaza Strip has begun.

“We are at the start of a new phase in the war—it requires courage, determination, and perseverance,” Gallant told troops in the northern city of Haifa.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah vowed Thursday to turn Israel’s actions into a “hell” after the group suffered a “severe blow” when communication devices were detonated earlier this week in Lebanon.​​​​​​​

The explosions “will be met with a just retribution, severe reckoning, timing, place, and nature of which we will determine,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

He warned Israel that if it establishes a security belt on Lebanese territory, “it will turn into a trap and a hell.”

The Hezbollah chief emphasized that “the Lebanese front will not stop until the war on Gaza stops.”

Hezbollah announced Thursday drone attacks on military sites in northern Israel. The Israeli army, in turn, targeted two towns in southern Lebanon with phosphorus shells.

Israel has not commented on the explosion of communication devices, which came amid an escalation in cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 41,300 victims, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio