Tensions along the border with Lebanon have become white hot, as harsh rhetoric is threatening to turn the low-level skirmishing between Hezbollah and Israel since Oct. 8, 2023 into full-scale warfare. The latest temperature increase came on Tuesday, June 19, when Hezbollah released aerial footage of what it said was the port of Haifa and nearby military installations. That is, Hezbollah was announcing that it had the capability to send spy drones into Israel that were not detected by Israeli air defenses.
The same day that the Hezbollah drone footage was released, Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had threatened his country and that Israel was “very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
“In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit,” he wrote on social media platform X, reported the Times of Israel. “The State of Israel will pay a price on the front and home fronts, but with a strong and united nation, and the full power of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], we will restore security to the residents of the north.”
