Israel will bomb Lebanon into the Stone Age if Hezbollah joins Hamas in its attack on the country, an expert has said.
Soldiers from the Israeli army and militants from Hezbollah have exchanged fire on the border between the two states since the latest Hamas-Israel war erupted on October 7.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops stationed near the border on Sunday (October 22), warning Lebanon the Israeli military “will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine”.
His comments came after Hezbollah vowed on Saturday (October 21) Israel would pay a high price if it launches a ground offensive inside the Gaza Strip.
Yigal Carmon, a former counter-terrorism advisor to Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin, said Lebanon will suffer if it joins the war.
Mr Carmon, who founded the Middle East Media Research Institute, said Israel would do this by sending a barrage of bombs into Lebanon to wipe out vital infrastructure, including sewage, water and electricity.
Israel shelled and launched drone strikes in southern Lebanon while Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles towards its neighbour on Saturday.
Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed in the highest daily toll since violence between the two countries erupted two weeks ago.
The group’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, explaining: “We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready.”
Hezbollah, which has a weapons arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles as well as different types of drone, might try to open a new front in the Israel-Hamas war with a large-scale attack on northern Israel.
Mr Kassem said his group, which is allied with Hamas, was already affecting the course of the conflict by keeping three Israeli army divisions tied up in the north instead of preparing to fight in Gaza.
He said in a speech at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter on Saturday: “Do you believe that if you try to crush the Palestinian resistance, other resistance fighters in the region will not act?
“We are in the heart of the battle today. We are making achievements through this battle.”
The Israeli military on Friday (October 20) announced the evacuation of a border city where three residents were wounded in crossfire a day earlier.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli drone fired a missile on a valley in the Sejoud area, about 12 miles north of the Israeli border.
Mr Netanyahu warned on Sunday: “If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will miss the Second Lebanon War. It will make the mistake of its life.
“We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state are devastating.”
Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim, Iran-backed political party and militant group with extensive security apparatus, political organisation, and social services network.
It was founded during the Lebanese Civil War and is opposed to Israel and to Western influence in the Middle East.
The UK, US, Canada, Netherlands, Israel, Bahrain and the Gulf Co-operation Council have designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
