The Israeli Air Force Commander, Tomer Bar, stated that “the Air Force is preparing, alongside the army, for a ground incursion into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, should an order be issued for that.”
Bar added in a speech to his soldiers, “We are preparing hand-in-hand with the Northern Command to conduct a ground maneuver. We are ready for it, but the decision to implement it rests with higher authorities.”
He clarified, “This is our opportunity to weaken them, and to systematically erase them from both the air and the ground,” indicating that “the army’s goal is to prevent the transfer of weapons from Iran to the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group, which is considered a top priority.”
He continued, “Nasrallah’s confidence and Hezbollah’s ability to recover from what happened to them a few days ago depends on the supply line coming from Iran.”
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had not yet responded to the US-French proposal for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Netanyahu’s office denied, on Thursday, reports that he had requested to scale back the ongoing attacks on Lebanon as part of the confrontation with “Hezbollah.”
In response to news published by an Israeli channel, Netanyahu’s office stated: “The report about a ceasefire is untrue. This is an American-French proposal, and the Prime Minister has not responded to it.”
On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, on Thursday, rejected the proposals for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
In a statement published on the X platform, Katz said: “There will be no ceasefire in the north.”
He continued: “We will continue fighting the terrorist Hezbollah organization with all our strength until victory, and until the safe return of the northern residents to their homes.”
Earlier, the United States launched a joint initiative with several Western and Arab countries to call for a 21-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and the occupation forces to pave the way for a political settlement.
A White House official said that Washington expects both parties “to respond within hours” on whether they will accept the ceasefire offer or not.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint statement, early Thursday: “We have worked together in recent days on a joint call for a temporary ceasefire to give diplomacy a chance to succeed and avoid further escalation across the border.”
Biden and Macron added that “the statement we negotiated now enjoys the support of the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.”
