Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to resume its fighting positions along the Lebanese border, even after the withdrawal of the Israeli army.
“Even after the withdrawal of Israeli army troops, we will not allow Hezbollah terrorists to return to these areas,” Yoav Gallant said during a visit to a border observation post.
For three weeks, Israel has been carrying out an intense bombing campaign against southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut, in addition to carrying out a ground offensive in the neighboring country.
In recent days, at least five peacekeepers have been injured during fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today to withdraw immediately. the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon “to a safe location”.
Hezbollah says it is fighting Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon
Hezbollah announced today that it was fighting Israeli soldiers in at least four villages near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. In several statements since the morning, cited by the French news agency France-Presse (AFP), the Shiite movement stated that its men were fighting Israeli soldiers “with automatic weapons and missiles”.
In one of them, the AFP also reported, specifying that it was hand-to-hand combat.
The announcement of these fighting in southern Lebanon comes on the same day that the Lebanese Prime Minister denounced “a new refusal by Israel to respect international law”after the Israeli head of government asked the UN to remove the ‘blue helmets’ from the border area.
Najib Mikati said he “condemns the position” of Benjamin Netanyahu “and the Israeli aggression by UNIFIL”, made up of 10,000 elements in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Prime Minister’s statements come after the his Israeli counterpart directly asked United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to move soldiers to northern Lebanonbecause if he didn’t do so, he would be making them “hostages of Hezbollah.”
“Mr. Secretary General, withdraw the UNIFIL forces to a safe location. This must be done now, immediately,” declared Netanyahu during a speech, directly questioning Guterres, in English.
At least five peacekeepers have been injured in recent days during fighting between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
In his message to Antonio Guterres [que não tem jurisdição sobre a FINUL, uma vez que a missão depende do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas]Netanyahu assured that Israel requested the withdrawal of the blue helmets on several occasions.
“It is time to remove UNIFIL from Hezbollah’s strongholds and combat zones,” said Netanyahu.
The Israeli Prime Minister lamented that the Israeli army had already made this request, only to be “constantly rejected”, a refusal “intended to provide human shields to Hezbollah terrorists”.
