Netanyahu Warns Lebanon of Devastation Comparable to Gaza

Israel’s prime minister has called on the Lebanese population to reject Hezbollah in order to prevent the “devastation and suffering similar to what is occurring in Gaza.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Tuesday coincided with Israel intensifying its offensive against Hezbollah, deploying thousands of additional troops to a new region in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military reported that 50 Hezbollah fighters were killed in airstrikes on Monday.

The Lebanese health ministry confirmed that 36 people lost their lives and 150 were injured in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours.

At the same time, Hezbollah continued to fire rocket salvos towards the Israeli city of Haifa for the third consecutive day, leaving 12 people injured.

In a video address to the people of Lebanon, Netanyahu urged them to act, saying, “You have a chance to save Lebanon from the abyss of a prolonged war that will bring destruction and suffering, similar to what is happening in Gaza.”

He added, “I call on you, the people of Lebanon: Liberate your country from Hezbollah so this war can end.”

Netanyahu further claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had eliminated Hezbollah’s leadership successor. “We have significantly weakened Hezbollah, killing thousands of terrorists, including Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, as well as the successor to his successor,” he said.

Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure expected to succeed Nasrallah, has not been heard from since an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last Thursday reportedly targeted him.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated on Tuesday that the military could not yet confirm Safieddine’s death and was still analyzing the results of the operation.

Despite weeks of intense Israeli strikes, Hezbollah has remained defiant. Lebanese officials report more than 1,400 deaths and 1.2 million people displaced.

Earlier Tuesday, Naim Qassem, Nasrallah’s former deputy, said Hezbollah had endured Israel’s recent “painful blows” and that its forces remained operational.

Israel ramped up its offensive after nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes, sparked by the Gaza war. The IDF aims to secure the return of tens of thousands of Israeli residents displaced by Hezbollah’s rocket, missile, and drone attacks.

The conflict has steadily escalated since Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel on October 8, 2023, following Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.