Israel to intensify Lebanon offensive to ‘crush’ Hezbollah

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s order comes despite ‘ceasefire’ agreed with Lebanon last month, which was recently extended.⁠Israeli ⁠Prime Minister ⁠Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to ⁠intensify strikes ⁠against Hezbollah ⁠in Lebanon to “crush” the armed group.The Israeli leader announced the order in a video released on Telegram on Monday night. “We are at war with Hezbollah, and we will intensify our strikes,” he declared. The order is in line with calls from far-right coalition partners for an escalation of military action.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Subdued Lebanon-liberation-day" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="133822" data-entity-type="event">Lebanon Liberation Day celebrations under new Israeli occupationlist 2 of 4Israel escalates Gaza attacks as Netanyahu stalls ceasefire for pollslist 3 of 4In Lebanon, everything and nothing has changed since 2000list 4 of 4Lebanon marks Liberation Day under Israeli bombardmentend of listThe order comes despite the “ceasefire” agreed upon with Lebanon last month, which was recently extended. Netanyahu said Israel’s military would not be taking its “foot off the gas. On the contrary, I said to step on the gas even more.”Shortly after his comments, the Israeli military announced it had launched attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa Valley and several other areas in Lebanon.Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that the announcement had also sparked an exodus of people from the southern suburbs of Beirut, a major Hezbollah stronghold.The announcement of the escalation came as Lebanon marked Liberation Day, commemorating the departure of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after an 18-year occupation in 2000.The order also came amid daily strikes on southern Lebanon. A barrage of Israeli attacks was earlier reported on the districts of Tyre and Nabatieh. Four people were killed, and three were injured in the town of Kfar Reman, in the Nabatieh district.Several strikes targeted the al-Midan neighbourhood in the city of Nabatieh, damaging residential buildings and a Shia Muslim community centre.