Israel’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah is ‘not the end,’ PM Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the IDF’s coordinated preemptive strikes against Hezbollah terror assets on Sunday was not the final blow.

“What happened today is not the end of the story. Early this morning, Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones. We directed the IDF to carry out an intense preemptive attack to remove the threat,” Netanyahu said at the start of the Cabinet meeting, which this week was held at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

“The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, all of which were designed to attack our citizens and our forces in the Galilee. Also, the IDF intercepted all of the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in the centre of the country,” continued the premier.

“We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows. Three weeks ago, we eliminated its chief of staff (Fuad Shukr), and today we thwarted its attack plan.

“(Hezbollah terrorist chief Hassan) Nasrallah in Beirut and (Iranian Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes,” Netanyahu said.

Early on Sunday morning, approximately 100 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, directed by IDF intelligence, destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah subsequently fired more than 200 projectiles into Israel.

The Iranian proxy released a statement according to which the launches were “stage one” of its retaliation for Israel’s targeted killing of Shukr on July 31.

The main target of the attack was likely the Glilot base near Herzliya, the site of Mossad headquarters and various military intelligence units.

The IDF has lifted crowd restrictions issued for Tel Aviv and Haifa as well as many cities and towns in northern Israel that were put in place early Sunday morning.