Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to escalate its offensive in Lebanon, vowing to “crush” Hezbollah following a surge in drone attacks against Israeli forces and civilians.
Despite an April 17 ceasefire, fighting between the two sides has continued on a near-daily basis leading to renewed violence across the border.
In a video statements shared on his Telegram channel, Netanyahu addressed the security challenges stating, “I have ordered an even greater acceleration of our operations.”
Acknowledging the threat posed by Hezbollah’s technological advancements, he added:
“It is true that they are attacking us with drones including fibre-optic drones but we have teams working on countermeasures and we will solve this issue. We will intensify our blows, increase our firepower and we will crush them.”
Following this announcement, the Israeli military reported striking over 70 Hezbollah targets including infrastructure in the Bekaa Valley and near Tyre.
Lebanese authorities confirmed that the latest strikes resulted in multiple casualties.
The escalation occurs as the United States and Iran negotiate terms for a potential peace agreement with Israel maintaining that it must defend itself while aiming to permanently dismantle the threat posed by Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
