Gallant says Israel could inflict “massive damage”, while the UN humanitarian chief says war would be “potentially apocalyptic”.
Israel has said it does not want war in Lebanon, but that it could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age”, as the United Nations head of humanitarian affairs warned that such a conflict would be “potentially apocalyptic”.
“We don’t want war, but we are preparing for all scenarios,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters Wednesday in Washington, DC. “Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage on Lebanon if a war is launched.”
Israel was able to take “Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it,” he said.
The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah since the current conflict in Gaza began on October 7. said Israel was preparing for “a very tense operation” on the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah also threatened a war “without restrictions, without rules and without limits” in the event of a major Israeli offensive against Lebanon.
Gallant’s language echoes the rhetoric used by Benny Gantz, a former general and leader of Israel’s National Unity party who recently resigned from the war cabinet, citing the failure to agree on a plan for Gaza beyond the war.
In a series of campaign videos ahead of the 2019 general election, Gantz referred to sending the Palestinian enclave “back to the Stone Age” during the 2014 Gaza war, a campaign he oversaw as army chief.
Meanwhile, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths called Lebanon “the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints.”
“It’s beyond planning. It is potentially apocalyptic,” he told journalists in Geneva, warning that a war involving Lebanon would draw in Syria and other countries.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gallant on Tuesday that another war with Hezbollah could have “dire consequences for the Middle East” and called for a diplomatic solution.
A U.S. official said Washington was engaged in “pretty intense talks” with Israel, Lebanon and other actors, and believed neither side was seeking a “major escalation.”
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported about 10 Israeli attacks in areas close to the border on Wednesday, including one that destroyed a building in Nabatiyeh, wounding five people, and Hezbollah claimed six attacks on Israeli military positions in the border region.
Gallant also said he discussed his “day after” proposals for post-war Gaza governance with senior US officials. The process, which would include local Palestinians, regional partners and the US, would be “long and complex,” he said.
A member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, Gallant criticized the prime minister for the lack of a post-war plan for Gaza – echoing US criticism – in May.
While Gallant’s trip to the U.S. is aimed at bolstering bipartisan support for Israel as tensions with Lebanon rise, some observers say it is also an attempt to undermine Netanyahu a month before he visits Washington, D.C., and speaks at a joint session of the US Congress.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
