JERUSALEM – Signs of a third full war between Israel and The US-designated terrorist organization, Hezbollah, which runs a state-within-a-state in Lebanon, is rapidly gaining strength. Israel has fought two previous wars against terrorist forces embedded in Lebanon, in 1982 and 2006, and a third war seems imminent.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has also deployed the advanced and battle-tested 98th Division from a southern military base in Gaza against Hamas in the north, as a prelude to what some say could be a ground offensive to eliminate Hezbollah terrorists in the south. Lebanon.
IDF Reserve Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi told Fox News Digital, that the war in the north with Hezbollah is imminent. “A few weeks ago it was clear that because Israel destroyed most of the Hamas forces, Hamas no longer poses a major threat to Israel. This was the time to decide to change the strategy and shift the center of gravity from the south to the north.
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Rescuers carry a body at the scene of a missile attack in southern Beirut, Friday, September 20, 2024. ((AP Photo/Bilal Hussein))
The rapid-fire action taking place in Israel—a country the size of New Jersey—comes amid the Jewish state’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, allegedly blowing up the electronic devices of Hezbollah operatives in a scene from John le Carré’s espionage novel. Hundreds of pagers used by members of Hezbollah exploded on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including two children, and injuring 2,800.
Another wave of electrical equipment exploded on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 450. Hezbollah officials say the equipment includes walkie-talkies and solar devices.
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The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Lebanon on Thursday. (Israel Defense Forces)
“This was the time to decide to change strategy and move the center of gravity from the south to the north.”
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in heavy air battles in the past 48 hours. Israel’s military cabinet has announced the return of about 100,000 Israelis who were forced to flee to the north due to Hezbollah attacks as a key target of the war.
Avivi, head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, he noted that there is no way to safely return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north “without pushing Hezbollah into southern Lebanon and hitting Hezbollah hard – all their capabilities throughout Lebanon.”
Israeli Defense Forces soldiers operate near the Lebanese border.
He said the chances of finding a political solution are “very low due to the lack of international pressure and the reluctance of the US to pose a credible military threat against Iran and Hezbollah.”
The United Nations failed to enforce UN Security Council resolution 1701 that required Hezbollah to be expelled after its 2006 war with the Jewish state.
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In another tragic incident for Hezbollah, an IDF strike on Friday took out members of the Hezbollah Radwan special forces in Beirut.
IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani announced Friday on X that, “We removed Ibrahim Aqil earlier today in a direct strike in Beirut, Lebanon. During the strike, Ibrahim Aqil, along with 10 Radwan commanders who were taken out with him, gathered underground—underground of a residential building in the center of the city of Dahiyah, hiding among the Lebanese citizens—using them as human shields.”
Aqil was a wanted terrorist by Islamists all over the world with the blood of American soldiers on his hands. He was wanted by the United States for his alleged involvement in the 1983 bombing of a US Marine base in Beirut. He is also believed to be connected to the taking of American hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s.
The IDF says it killed senior Hezbollah terrorist Ibrahim Aqil in a strike in Beirut on Friday. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
Shoshani added: “They were in the middle of planning more terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Terrorist attacks such as the 200 rockets fired today at Israelis and many more. These commanders also planned the attack plan of Hezbollah “Conquer the Galilee”, where Hezbollah intended to enter in Israeli communities and kill innocent people.”
Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8—a day after its ally Hamas attacked Israel and killed nearly 1,200 Hezbollah attacks have killed more than 40 people in Israel, including 12 Israeli Druze children get out on the football field in July.
“If Hezbollah cares about the future of Lebanon, it will do well to withdraw from the Israeli border”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman told Fox News Digital that “If Israel wanted to attack Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, it would not have waited more than 11 months to do so. infrastructure in Lebanon, after delivering a stunning and tragic blow by causing the explosion of telecommunications equipment, which may have been Israel’s last-ditch effort to put pressure on Hezbollah to agree to a deal that would stop the war.”
The aftermath of a Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on May 10, 2024. (Photo: Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL.) (Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL)
Conricus, a senior official at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added: “If Hezbollah cares about the future of Lebanon, it would do well to withdraw from Israel’s border and stop Israel’s attacks, and end its sloppy connection with the Hamas war.” against Israel At the end of the day, the Israeli authorities are obliged to facilitate the safe return of displaced Israelis to their homes, either through a diplomatic or military agreement. “
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Hezbollah soldiers form a human barrier during the funeral procession of the slain Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the south of Beirut on August 1, 2024. Hezbollah on August 1 mourns Shukr, whose body was found in the rubble of a military strike. – Israel on July 30 south of Beirut. that also killed five civilians, three women and two children, and injured dozens, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as the wider conflict in the region escalated. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Rami Mortada, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK, told The Times of London that Israel’s attack “is a doomsday situation for everyone. It’s a doomsday in Lebanon.” He warned that Lebanon will not suffer alone in a new war.
Israeli war planners have spent 17 years since the last war with Hezbollah in 2006 preparing for a doomsday war in the north.
Timothy HJ Nerozzi of Fox News contributed to this report.