Israel’s defense minister hints at possible ground operation in Lebanon

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hinted Monday that the Israeli army may launch a ground operation in Lebanon.

“The elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is not the end,” he said during a meeting with forces on Israel’s border with Lebanon.

“To return the northern residents, we will activate all our capabilities, including you," he told the soldiers.

“If someone on the other side does not understand what these capabilities mean, it is all capabilities and you are part of this effort. We trust you to be able to accomplish anything,” Gallant added.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburb of Beirut on Friday.

Several Israeli media reports emerged of a possible ground operation in southern Lebanon amid massive airstrikes across the country.

The Israeli military has called up additional reserve forces to the Lebanese border. The Walla news website, however, said that no formal decision had been made by the Israeli political leadership about launching a ground offensive into Lebanon.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 960 people and injuring over 2,770 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul