In a televised address on Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Israel’s obligation to respond against Iranian aggression.
After nearly destroying Hamas’s terrorist capabilities in Gaza, Israel is successfully targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, the Israeli prime minister said.
“A month ago as we almost finished defeating Hamas in Gaza, we carried out our promise to the people of the north and killed Nasrallah and all the commanders of Hezbollah,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said. “Even though we haven’t finished lifting these threats we have clearly changed the course of the war and the balance of the war.”
Israel “is prepared to defend itself,” he assured. “Including the threat coming from Iran because Iran is behind all of these attacks on us. From Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria and Iran itself.
The Jerusalem Post reported prime minister’s address:
“We have an obligation to respond to Iran – and we will,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a recorded message broadcasted on Israeli media channels on Saturday night.The statement came as the world awaits an Israeli response to Iran’s missile barrage on Tuesday.”No country in the world would simply accept the attack from Iran, and neither will Israel,” he added.Netanyahu also said that Hamas was as good as finished and that the significant leadership of Hezbollah was also eliminated, however the IDF will continue to fight until residents of the North can return home and the hostages are returned from Gaza.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for calling for an arms embargo on Israel as the country fights against Iran and its terror proxies on multiple fronts.
“Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world,’ Netanyahu vowed.
‘ Israel will win with you or without you, your shame will reverberate,” he said referring to the French president.
Islamic terror group Hamas suffered a major blow on Saturday after Israeli air strikes eliminated two of its top commanders based in Lebanon. Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud, Hamas’ leading operative in Lebanon, and Said Alaa Naif Ali, who headed the group’s armed terrorist wing in the country were killed in separate Israeli strikes.
On Saturday, Israeli fighter jets Force “struck and eliminated the terrorist Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud, who served as Hamas’ executive authority in Lebanon and directed terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
“In recent years, Muhammad advanced terrorist activities against Israelis both inside and outside of the State of Israel, the Israeli military revealed. “He was also responsible for Hamas’ entrenchment inside Lebanon, using it to supply weapons for rocket attacks against Israel and in attempts to manufacture advanced weaponry.”
In an separate overnight operation in northern Lebanon, “the terrorist Said Alaa Naif Ali, a senior member of Hamas’ Military Wing in Lebanon, was eliminated,” the IDF informed. “Said carried out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets and worked to recruit Hamas operatives inside Lebanon.”
“These operations constitute a blow to Hamas’ ability to carry out terror activities against the State of Israel from Lebanese,” the IDF noted.
Hezbollah admitted ‘losing contact’ with its supposed new chief after Friday’s Israeli airstrike on its terrorist stronghold in southern Beirut. The 60-year-old Shia-Muslim cleric, Hashem Safieddine, was widely seen as a possible replacement for the slain Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah.
“Following the death of Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, his cousin Hashem Safieddine was the frontrunner to take his place,” UK’s Sky News reported Saturday. “But, reports have suggested he has been targeted in an Israeli strike in Beirut and his fate is currently unknown. A Lebanese security source has reportedly told the Reuters news agency he has been “unreachable” since Friday.” The Qatari state-run Al Jazeera also confirmed the report citing Lebanese officials.
Israeli troops and special forces continued their ground operation in southern Lebanon for fifth day, eliminating Hezbollah’s Shia-jihadist fighters and destroying its terrorist infrastructure. IDF’s “Commando Brigade is continuing to conduct limited, localized, targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence in a village in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah had turned into a terrorist stronghold,” the military confirmed.
“The soldiers are conducting targeted, intelligence-based raids on terrorist infrastructure located both above and below ground,” the IDF disclosed. “These targets are embedded in mountainous, thicketed, and densely built-up areas rigged with explosives. The troops have located and destroyed Hezbollah’s weapons caches, observation posts, missiles, and launch posts that were aimed toward Israeli territory.”
Israeli fighters jets destroyed a Hezbollah command center set up inside a mosque in southern Lebanon.
“Overnight, with the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF struck Hezbollah terrorists who were operating within a command center that was located inside a mosque adjacent to the Salah Ghandour Hospital in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a press release Saturday. “The command center was used by the Hezbollah terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”
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