Israel warned Hezbollah on Tuesday about the prospect of “all-out war” after the Lebanese militant group published a 9-minute video, allegedly recorded by a drone, showing Israeli military and civilian locations in several Israeli cities.
“We are getting very close to the moment to decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on X. “In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed , and Lebanon was severely beaten,” he added.
Parts of the Hezbollah footage, shot during the day, claimed to show Krayot, a cluster of “highly populated” residential towns north of the Israeli city of Haifa and 28 km (17 miles) south of the Lebanese border, along with shopping malls and luxury stores. go up.
Other parties claimed to show a military complex near Haifa belonging to Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael – including Iron Dome batteries, missile storage sites and radar sites – and military boats, ships and oil storage depots in Haifa port.
The publication of the video follows months of intensified cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel, following the Hamas attacks on October 7and the Israel Defense Forces’ subsequent military campaign in Gaza.
In his response, Katz also highlighted the global repercussions of any potential attack on Haifa. “(Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan) Nasrallah is today bragging about having photographed the ports of Haifa, which are operated by large international companies from China and India, and threatening to damage them,” he said.
The US and its allies have warned Hezbollah, an Islamic movement supported by Iran and one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, for months against escalating the conflict in Israel. However, tensions were ascending in recent weeks.
CNN analysis geo-located the video to several locations around Haifa. These locations include a number of sensitive areas, including at least two military installations: a base in northern Haifa and the port of Haifa. The drone also flew over oil tanks located north of Haifa, Haifa airport and several residential areas.
CNN also analyzed the shadows in the videos, which indicate that the drone’s mission over Haifa lasted several hours or took place over several days. Analysis shows that parts of the video have been sped up.
Weapons expert Wim Zwijnenburg, humanitarian disarmament project leader at the Dutch peace organization PAX, told CNN that a drone visible in the images appears to be “an Iranian-origin model of a Qasaf-2k, possibly locally manufactured.”
‘Psychological horror’
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav described the video as “psychological horror” and demanded a protection plan for his city, criticizing IDF commanders for not having visited Haifa since the Hamas attack on October 7.
“I demand that the government presents a plan for the massive defense of Haifa and finds a military solution to eliminate the threat posed by the north,” Yahav told the Israeli radio station. Reset bet.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the video.
Hezbollah said the video was the “first episode,” suggesting that more videos would emerge from deep within Israeli territory.
A Hezbollah lawmaker in the Lebanese parliament who referenced the video in a social media post also suggested more is to come.
“This is what the party [Hezbollah] announced and you saw it, but what is hidden is getting bigger and bigger! Haifa and beyond, beyond and beyond Haifa,” Ibrahim Mousawi said in the post.
His message appears to be a reference to a phrase coined by Nasrallah during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when he said the militant group would fire rockets at Haifa “and beyond Haifa.”
Israeli military increases readiness
Israel has been preparing for the possibility that diplomatic efforts to reduce hostilities with Hezbollah will fail. The release of the images comes as the Israeli military claims to have “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon and made decisions on how to increase the readiness of troops in the field.
The plans were approved by the commander of Northern Command and the head of the Operations Directorate during a joint situational assessment to prepare for continued fighting, the IDF said in a statement.
The approval of the operational plans does not mean that a war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent – but it does signal that Israel intends to be prepared for such a scenario.
Hezbollah has fired more than 5,000 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel since October 7, claiming its attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Hezbollah has said in the past that it will only stop firing at Israel if Israel stops the war in Gaza.
For its part, Israel carried out hundreds of attacks in Lebanon and evacuated around 60,000 residents from the northern border. More than 90,000 Lebanese also fled their homes in the region.
The US has sought a diplomatic solution to avoid a wider war that could spread to the region, sending special envoy Amos Hochstein to Israel and Lebanon this week to try to ease tensions.
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