IDF to continue striking Hezbollah, Netanyahu says despite diplomacy calls

Israel will continue its military campaign of targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said amid global calls on Israel to seek a diplomatic resolution to the year-long constrained IDF-Hezbollah war along its northern border.

“We will continue striking Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said after visiting an IDF intelligence base. He spoke more than a week after Israel ratcheted up its military campaign against the Iranian proxy group in an attempt to push Hezbollah back to the Litani River.

Hezbollah, which had entrenched itself in southern Lebanon well before the October 7 Hamas invasion, has argued that it would only end the hostilities if there is a Gaza ceasefire.

In the absence of an end to the Gaza war, there is a push to separate the two military fronts and to restore calm to the northern border even if the Gaza war continues.

Biden, in his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in New York, called for both a Gaza ceasefire and an end to the IDF-Hezbollah war, which he warned could spark a third Lebanon war.

“A full-scale war [between Israel and Lebanon] is not in anyone’s interests, even in a situation that is escalating, a diplomatic solution still possible,” Biden told the plenum.

Diplomacy “remains the only plan” that would allow evacuated Israeli and Lebanese citizens to return to their homes on both sides of the border, he said.

Biden also argued for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, explaining that it was the best way to counter threats from Iran and its proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

“Progress toward peace would put us in a stronger position to counter the ongoing threat posed by Iran,” Biden said. “Together we must deny oxygen to its [Iran’s] terrorist proxies, which have called for more October 7”-style attacks, Biden said.

The international community must “ensure that Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon,” he stressed.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday called for a de-escalation, stating, ”We need to make sure that civilians are protected. The violence needs to stop.

“We need to make sure there is de-escalation, both by Israel and Hezbollah. We need to protect civilian lives. We need to make sure we’re moving towards peace and stability in the entire region,” Trudeau added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Middle East today. I call again for all parties to step back from the brink.”

Gaza conflict could engulf Lebanon

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UNGA, “Gaza is a nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it. Look no further than Lebanon. We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is [on] the brink. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”

An Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi. Two security sources in Lebanon described him as a leading figure in the Iran-backed group’s rocket division.

The IDF said later said the air force also conducted “extensive strikes” on Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and dozens of launchers that were aimed at Israeli territory.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “Hezbollah today is not the same Hezbollah we knew a week ago. [It] has suffered a sequence of blows to its command and control, its fighters, and the means to fight.”

These “are all severe blows,” he stressed.

Netanyahu issued his second message in as many days to the people of Lebanon explaining, “Our war is not with you. Our war is with Hezbollah. [It’s leader, Hassan] Nasrallah is leading you to the edge of the abyss. I told you yesterday to evacuate homes in which there is a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage. Whoever has a missile in the living room and a rocket in the garage will no longer have a home.

“But I tell you something else. He is putting your country in danger. Free yourselves from Hezbollah’s grip. Free yourselves from Nasrallah’s grip, for your own good,” he stated.

Israel’s newly minted Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon held up an oversized photo of a Hezbollah rocket apparently positioned inside a Lebanese home, showing reporters outside of the General Assembly that the terrorist group is using civilians in Lebanon to target civilians in Israel.

“Their disregard for civilian life not only threatens Israel but holds the people of Lebanon hostage in their own country, pushing the entire region toward conflict and chaos for everyone’s sake,” he said.

Still, Danon maintained the Israeli government prefers diplomacy but is “using other methods to show the other side that we mean business.”

“We will do whatever is necessary to bring the residents back to the North. If nothing will help, then the goal of any operation is to achieve peace,” he said, noting that Israel is listening to US guidance against escalation.

Danon said it’s not too late for the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people to put pressure on Hezbollah to stop their aggression.

“If they will not fire rockets into Israel, we will be able to bring our residents back to the communities,” he said. “That’s it. You have no escalation.”

Reuters contributed to this report.