Israel’s preemptive strikes ‘not finish of story’, Netanyahu warns
Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday morning is “not the end of the story”.
Fears of the Middle East descending into all out war flared on Sunday as Hezbollah launched its long awaited retaliatory attack on Israel over the assassination of one of its top commanders in Beirut in late July.
Acting preemptively 30 minutes before the attack, Israel used more than 100 fighter jets to take out hundreds of missile launchers in 40 locations across southern Lebanon.
It was the most intense exchange of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct 7 and came as high-level talks resumed in Cairo aimed at ending the bloody 10-month conflict in which more than 2,500 Israelis and 40,000 Palistinians are thought to have died, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Hezbollah claimed to have hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv in a barrage of 320 Katyusha rockets and a “large number” of drones, while Israel claimed the attack had been “mostly” thwarted.
Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister said preemptive strikes in Lebanon were “not the final word” in his country’s military campaign against Hezbollah.
“We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows… This is another step towards changing the situation in the north and safely returning our residents to their homes. And, I repeat, this is not the final word,” Mr Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting.
Israel “does not seek an all-out war” but “will exact a heavy price for any aggressions”, added a spokesman.
The next strike on Israel may come not from Hezbollah in Lebanon but from other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the region, Israel analysts believe.
Israeli officials told The Telegraph that they thought Hezbollah would not seek to escalate things further.
However, they warned that Iranian backed proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria could launch attacks on Israel at any time.
“The assessment at the moment is that the next wave of retaliation will come from another country [other] than Lebanon,” said an Israeli official.
Reuters reported that both sides had exchanged text messages following the exchange via intermediaries, saying they were “done” and did not want to escalate further.
Since the start of war on Oct 7, Israel has had to evacuate 60,000 to 80,000 people from an area of some 650 square kilometres along the Lebanon border – about three per cent of its total land mass – because of Hezbollah’s rockets.
It is thought that both the US and Iran, neither of which want to become embroiled in another major war in the Middle East, are also applying intense diplomatic pressure on their respective allies to stand down.
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader in Lebanon, appeared to indicate in a televised speech on Sunday that justice had been served and he was standing down his forces for the moment at least.
“At this current stage, the country can take a breath and relax,” he said.
“We will monitor what happened and how the enemy has kept it under wraps. If we are satisfied with these results, we will consider our response complete. If they are not sufficient, we reserve the right to retaliate at another time.”
Mr Nasrallah claimed to have hit the Glilot military intelligence base, near Tel Aviv.
Israel insisted the Glilot base was “not hit” and that it continued to operate as normal.
Joe Biden, the US president, was “closely monitoring events in Israel and Lebanon”, said a spokesman for the National Security Council.
The Pentagon said Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary, spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant urging restraint but backing Israel’s right to defend itself.
Pat McFadden, UK Cabinet Minister, said “major regional war” in the Middle East was a “real danger” and called for restraint.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said “further escalation in the Middle East must be avoided at all costs”.
Flights diverted as air raid sirens wailed across Israel during the exchange early Sunday and initially all citizens were warned to stay inside.
Avi Melamed, Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst, said he expected de-escalation now on the northern front.
“The exchange of fire alongside the Israeli-Lebanese border earlier today, and the post-strike messages from both Israel and Hezbollah seemingly indicate neither is interested in an all-out war,” he said.
Mr Melamed added that Israel would probably have coordinated its military action with the US in advance and Hezbollah would have done the same with Iran.
Danny Citrinowicz, an expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Hezbollah might be trying to “balance the equation without escalating into war”.
Each side hopes their narrative will be sufficient for them to declare victory and avoid a wider confrontation, he said.
Iranian state media on Sunday played up the Hezbollah attack, calling it a success, but there was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.
The US and other mediators see a ceasefire in Gaza as key to averting a wider war. Hezbollah has said it will halt its strikes on Israel if there is a cease-fire.
Egypt continued to host high-level talks in Cairo on Sunday aimed at bridging the gaps in a proposal for a ceasefire and the release of scores of hostages held by Hamas.
The talks include William Burns, CIA director, and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Hamas sent a delegation to be briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but was not directly taking part in negotiations.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
