IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi promised a group of soldiers yesterday that their “military boots will enter enemy territory.”
“You can hear the planes above, we are attacking all day. Both to prepare the area for the possibility of your entry [into Lebanon], and also to continue causing blows to Hezbollah,” Halevi told troops of the 7th Armored Brigade during a drill simulating a ground offensive in Lebanon. “Hezbollah today expanded its [range] of fire. Later today, it will receive a very strong response,” he vowed, referring to the firing of a Hezbollah missile at Tel Aviv that morning. “Today we will continue, we do not stop, we continue to attack and continue to strike them everywhere. The goal is a very clear goal, to return the [displaced] residents of the north safely,” Halevi continued. “To do this, we are preparing the [ground] maneuver.”
Last year, Israel had evacuated tens of thousands of Israelis from near Lebanon’s border, as the IDF waged its war against Gaza. The government has made their return contingent upon pushing Hezbollah deeper into Lebanon.
