Lebanese premier denies receiving Israeli threats to expand war to Lebanon

By Stephani Rady

BEIRUT (AA) - Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that media reports suggesting he had received warnings from Israel that it was planning to carry out a large-scale attack on Lebanon are inaccurate.

“News and leaks are circulating about warnings received by the Prime Minister that the Israeli enemy may launch a wide-scale attack on Lebanon,” Mikati's media office said in a statement.

“These reports and leaks are unfounded," the office said, considering them part of the “pressure being exerted on Lebanon.”

The statement noted that Mikati is engaged in “extensive diplomatic contacts” in an effort to “halt the ongoing Israeli aggression on southern Lebanon.”

Earlier in the day, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to the Hezbollah group, cited unnamed sources claiming that “most international envoys to Beirut are conveying their concerns about the seriousness of the Israeli threat” to wage war on Lebanon.

The report added that “the most notable messages came from the British side, which specified a date for the Israeli strike in mid-June.”

According to the newspaper, London advised Beirut to “take necessary provisioning measures for a war whose scope and duration are unknown.”

Mikati’s denial came despite remarks from Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on Tuesday that the Israeli military is “very ready” to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon and is “approaching the point where a decision will have to be made."

Halevi’s comments came during an assessment he conducted on Israel’s northern border with Israeli Fire and Rescue Services Commissioner Eyal Caspi and several military leaders, according to a military statement.

Since Sunday, northern Israeli settlements and towns have experienced numerous fires due to Hezbollah's rocket launches and explosive-laden drones from Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed over 36,400 people since a major attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio