Israel warned Hezbollah on Tuesday of the prospect of “all-out war” after the Lebanese militant group released a 9-minute video, purportedly taken by a drone, showing Israeli military and civilian locations in several Israeli cities.
“We are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on X. “In a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon has been severely beaten,” he added.
Parts of the Hezbollah footage, filmed during the day, purported to show Krayot, a cluster of “highly populated” residential towns north of the Israeli city of Haifa and 28 km (17 miles) south of the Lebanese border, as well as shopping centers and high-rise buildings. gets up.
Other parties claimed to show a military complex near Haifa belonging to Israeli arms manufacturer Rafael – including Iron Dome batteries, missile storage sites and radar sites – as well as military boats, ships and depots oil storage in the port of Haifa.
The release of the video follows months of intensifying cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel following the Hamas attacks of October 7and the subsequent military campaign by the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza.
In his response, Katz also highlighted the global repercussions of any potential attack on Haifa. “(Hassan, the secretary general of Hezbollah) Nasrallah is now boasting of having photographed the ports of Haifa, which are operated by huge Chinese and Indian international companies, and threatening to damage them,” he said. he declares.
The United States and its allies have for months been warning Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamist movement and one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, against an escalation of the conflict in Israel. The tensions were nevertheless rising these last weeks.
CNN’s analysis geolocated the video to several locations around Haifa. These locations include a number of sensitive areas, including at least two military installations: a base north of Haifa and the Haifa port. The drone also flew over oil reservoirs north of Haifa, Haifa Airport and several residential areas.
CNN also analyzed shadows in the videos, which indicate that the drone’s mission over Haifa lasted several hours or took place over several days. Analysis shows that parts of the video have been sped up.
Weapons expert Wim Zwijnenburg, project manager for humanitarian disarmament at the Dutch peace organization PAX, told CNN that a drone visible in the footage appears to be “an original Iranian model of a Qasaf -2k, maybe made locally.”
“Psychological terror”
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav called the video “psychological terror” and demanded a protection plan for his city, criticizing IDF commanders for not visiting Haifa since the Hamas attack on 7 october.
“I demand that the government present a plan for the massive defense of Haifa and find a military solution to eliminate the threat posed by the north,” Yahav told Israel Radio. Reset bet.
CNN has contacted the Israeli military for comment on the video.
Hezbollah claimed the video was the “first episode,” suggesting that other videos would surface from deep within Israeli territory.
A Hezbollah MP in the Lebanese parliament who referenced the video in a social media post also suggested more was to come.
“This is what the party (Hezbollah) announced and you saw it, but what is hidden is getting bigger and bigger! Haifa and beyond, beyond and beyond Haifa,” Ibrahim Mousawi said in his message.
His message appears to be a reference to a phrase coined by Nasrallah during Israel’s war with Hezbollah in 2006, when he claimed the militant group would fire rockets into Haifa “and beyond Haifa.”
The Israeli army prepares more
Israel is preparing for the possibility that diplomatic efforts to reduce hostilities with Hezbollah may fail. The release of these images comes as the Israeli army claims to have “approved and validated” operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon and made decisions on increasing the preparation of troops on the ground.
The plans were approved by the commander of the Northern Command and the head of the Operations Directorate during a joint assessment of the situation aimed at preparing for continued fighting, the Israeli army said in a statement.
The approval of the operational plans does not mean that a war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent – but it does indicate that Israel intends to be prepared for such a scenario.
Hezbollah has fired more than 5,000 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel since October 7, claiming its attacks were in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Hezbollah has said in the past that it would only stop shooting at Israel if Israel ended the war in Gaza.
For its part, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in Lebanon and evacuated around 60,000 residents from the northern border. More than 90,000 Lebanese have also fled their homes in the region.
The United States has sought a diplomatic exit route to avoid a broader war that could spread to the region, sending special envoy Amos Hochstein to Israel and Lebanon this week to try to ease tensions.
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