IDF Northern Commander Gordon: The security situation on the border must be changed and soon

IDF Northern Commander Maj. Gen. Uri Gordon on Wednesday told some of his troops in a visit near the Lebanese border that, "the mission is clear - we are determined to change the security reality at the earliest possible moment."

"The commitment of the commanders and their forces is complete - and the readiness for any mission which will be required has reached a high point," Gordon continued, less than a day after thousands of Hezbollah operatives were wounded by boobytrapped beeper devices, and with calls for a retaliatory larger general war against Israel.

According to Reuters, the pagers were used due to the belief they would be able to evade Israeli tracking of their locations.

Gordon was visiting the 179th and 769 Brigades who have been carrying out drills to simulate an invasion of Lebanese territory - should that become necessary. 

Around 60,000 northern residents were forced to evacuate their border towns and cities by Hezbollah rocket fire in October 2023 and have not been able to return among the nearly nonstop continued aerial attacks.

Since the attack

In the day since the pager explosion, the Israel Air Force and IDF artillery have struck numerous Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon, including a structure in the Majdal Selm area.

Northern response

Northern residents responded to this statement by saying, “Don’t wait for threats, blood will be spilled in vain when they come.”

Matan Dudian, a resident of Shlomi and a leader of the 'Fighting for the North' campaign, added, "The only thing the commander should be talking about is his plan for a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, as revealed in the media.”

According to Dudian, “Israel must take proactive action and capitalize on the momentum from the boobytrapped pager attack to deliver a devastating blow to Hezbollah and defeat the terror organization. There won’t be many more opportunities like this, and the heavy blow must be delivered today.”