Israel is 'preparing for ground invasion of Lebanon', IDF spokesperson tells LBC as Biden calls for ceasefire
by Kit Heren · LBCBy Kit Heren
Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Lebanon to combat Hezbollah, an IDF spokesperson has told LBC.
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Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told LBC's Tom Swarbrick that a "ground operation" in Lebanon was part of a "huge set of tools" that Israel has to help return 60,000 Israeli citizens to their homes in its war-torn northern region.
Israel, which wants to push Hezbollah away from its northern border, has been carrying out "small, targeted raids into southern Lebanon, gathering intelligence and probing ahead of a possible broader ground incursion," according to the Wall Street Journal.
An official told reporters in the US that a further small incursion could begin within hours. US president Joe Biden has renewed calls for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile Israel's defence minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that "the next stage in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon".
Lt. Col Lerner said: "We need to make sure that Hezbollah does not have that power to, as a terrorist organisation, terrorise 60,000 Israelis on the border with Lebanon.
"We can do it either through negotiations, or we can do it with military force.
"Currently, we're on the path of extensive military action and operation, and perhaps even with a ground operation which we are planning for because as a military, we need to have the tools in place if instructed to mobilise."
‘We are going to invade Lebanon,’ admits IDF spokesman
It comes after Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said that Israel would not achieve its aims in Lebanon, even as elite IDF troops began sabotage missions, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons sites and command centres.
Qassem was defiant despite the prospect of an invasion, saying in an address: "We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement."
He added that the group’s operations will continue and they are braced for ‘patience’ and the possibility of a long conflict.
Meanwhile the Lebanese government itself said that it wanted a ceasefire. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: "The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France … in favour of a ceasefire".
The UK government has called repeatedly over the past few days for British citizens in the country to leave. It said on Monday that it is doing everything possible to get British people out.
Former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps defended Israel's military action.
He told LBC: “Israel is in a terrible situation, they have got rockets being fires by Hezbollah on a daily basis, it doesn’t get reported in our news.
"What is this tiny, small democracy, the size of Wales, supposed to do? Just allow these rockets to continually fire at them with no action? They’ve been suffering this for a very long time. Hezbollah haven’t complied with the UN resolution 1701 to pull back from the border.
"I hope this can be over, I support the calls for a ceasefire, but a ceasefire has to work in both directions, the rockets can’t continue.
“I understand their right not to be fired on all day long by a bunch of terrorists. Hezbollah are recognised by Britain as a bunch of terrorists.”
Israeli special forces operations include scouting out Hezbollah's tunnel network along the country's border, according to reports.
An Israeli official told The Telegraph: “They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone.”
NBC News said that ‘small forces operations’ had been launched into southern Lebanon with the aim of gathering intelligence and scouting Hezbollah positions.
It follows nearly two weeks of bombing between Hezbollah and Israel, with the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah killed on Friday.
Israel hit an apartment building in central Beirut with an airstrike on Monday.
A residential neighbourhood that houses predominantly Sunni Muslims was hit early on Monday morning, according to the Associated Press.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. The Israel Defence Force has previously stated it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut but did not immediately provide details.
The airstrike killed at least one person and wounded 16, said an official with Lebanese Civil Defense, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said the person killed was a member of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni political and militant group that is allied with Hezbollah.
A Palestinian leftist faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the airstrike.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that its military and security commanders in Lebanon, and a third member were killed in the attack.
On Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry documented at least 105 killed across the country in airstrikes.
They said two attacks hit near the southern city of Sidon, about 28 miles south of Beirut, killing at least 32.
Separately, Israeli attacks in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed a further 21 and injured at least 47.