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Today's Paper | November 22, 2024

Published 19 Jun, 2024 09:56am

Israel army says operational plans for Lebanon offensive ‘approved’

The Israeli military has said operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”, as Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement engaged in cross-border exchanges of fire, AFP reports.

Senior Israeli military officials “held a joint situational assessment in the Northern Command. As part of the situational assessment, operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated”, the military said in a statement.

“Decisions were taken on the continuation of increasing the readiness of troops in the field.”

The sign-off came as Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz earlier warned Hezbollah that it would be destroyed in the event of a “total war” between the two.

“We are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard,” Katz said, according to a statement from his office.

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