Netanyahu at Lebanese border declares ‘we’re changing reality across the board'

Israel is changing its security reality across the board, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he visited a military base on the northern border close to a week after the IDF began its ground campaign in Southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah military targets there.

"I am here with IDF soldiers at the northern border,” Netanyahu said on Sunday as he spoke with soldiers from the 36th Division.

“A few meters from here are their friends across the border, dismantling the terrorist infrastructure that Hezbollah prepared to attack our [border] communities,” he said.

“A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow,” Netanyahu told the soldiers at the base, as he referred to the Hamas invasion of southern Israel just one year ago.

He spoke one year into Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and weeks after it launched an intensive campaign against Hezbollah, including the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and many of the organization’s top commanders.

'Changing the reality from end to end'

“In the past 12 months, we are changing the reality from end to end,” Netanyahu told the soldiers. “The whole world laughs at the blows you inflict on our enemies,” he said.

“I salute you and tell you: You are the victorious generation.

Together we will fight, and together we will win - with God's help,” he said.

Israel battered Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday in the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital yet,  witnesses and military analysts on local TV channels said.

The blasts sent booms across Beirut and sparked flashes visible from several kilometers away for nearly 30 minutes. 

Reuters contributed to this report.