TRANSCRIPT
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas in Gaza, has been exchanging strikes with Israel almost daily since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7th.
It's understood Hezbollah wants to pull Israeli forces away from the embattled Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says the group has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel in case of a regional war.
“They (Israel) have to wait for us on the ground, in the air and in the sea. We have said this before and I will say again today: If the war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without control, without rules, and without a ceiling.”
Hezbollah says at least four of its fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, the same day that US senior envoy Amos Hochstein had been in Lebanon to try to avert a deepening conflict.
Hezbollah's attacks escalated after Israel expanded its offensive last month into the southern Gaza city of Rafah and then spiked again last week after an Israeli strike killed high-ranking Hezbollah commander Taleb Sami Abdullah, the most senior militant killed so far during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli military said two Hezbollah launches damaged several vehicles in northern Israel.
Israeli Defence minister Yoav Gallant and Israeli army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi have been meeting at the Israeli army's Northern Command.
Mr Gallant says the IDF is ready for anything.
"We are completing the land and air readiness, strengthening the intelligence systems and preparing for any possibility. We have to remember the basic situation - that Hezbollah started a war against us, even if limited, on the 8th October, a day after Hamas, and since then it has not stopped it, and in that sense, we have an obligation to change the situation in the north and return the citizens safely to their homes. We will find the way to do this action, because when I look at the citizens and I meet them, both their representatives and the people, they have an expectation and I think it is justified - and we will have to implement it."
Joe Federman is the Bureau Chief for the Associated Press in Israel.
He says that war with Lebanon is not imminent - but the region has taken a step in that direction.
"Israel has grown increasingly frustrated after eight months of daily clashes with Hezbollah. This fighting erupted almost immediately after the war began in the Gaza Strip. But in recent weeks, the fighting has escalated on both sides of the border. The Israeli military isn't releasing details of its planned offensive, but its military chief has visited soldiers stationed along the border. He tells them that Hezbollah has only seen a small part of what Israel is capable of doing."
But he says the Hezbollah leader is open to compromise.
"Nasrallah is providing a way out. He says his group is ready to stop the fighting if there's a cease-fire in Gaza."
Meanwhile the United Nations Human Rights office has released its assessment on six attacks by the Israeli Defence Force last year, involving the suspected use of GBU-31 bombs.
These are the giant 2,000 pound weapons that the US administration is currently delaying to send to Israel.
Spokesman Jeremy Laurence says given how densely populated the areas targeted were, the use of an explosive weapon with such wide area effects is highly likely to amount to a prohibited indiscriminate attack:
“The report concludes that the series of Israeli strikes, exemplified by the six incidents, indicates that the IDF may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war. In this connection, it notes that unlawful targeting when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, in line with a State or organizational policy, may also implicate the commission of crimes against humanity."
The Israeli government says weapons and ammunition from the U-S. were in the process of being delivered to Israel.
The US administration may be delaying the delivery of the 2000 pound bombs, but is avoiding any suggestion that Israeli forces have crossed a red line in the Rafah invasion, which would have triggered a more sweeping ban on arms transfers.
Israeli Government spokesman David Mencer says a US official has reassured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, told him that the ammunition and weapons that the prime minister referred to are in the process of being delivered to Israel. So the prime minister thanked him for that news, and said that he expects this to happen. And he's instructed Israeli teams to work with our American counterparts so that it will happen."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been meeting with a delegation from the U-S Congress.
He told them Israel continues to be grateful for American support.
"I, we, say repeatedly, and we know, we are utterly grateful to the United States of America for standing with us in this war. And I'm very grateful to the President of the United States for being here at the beginning of the war and making a clear message on behalf of the American people. And we also respect tremendously the bipartisan support that crosses all divides and conflicts within American society and the fact that we are fighting here the battle of the free world against the Empire of Evil. That's what we are doing and that's why together we must stay together. And if we have anything to discuss, it should be discussed quietly.”
