Israel has a new war goal, adding to mounting signs that the conflict could soon expand to the country’s north as it warned the U.S. that “military action” would likely be the only way to addressing mounting hostilities with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office announced late Monday that the security cabinet had updated its list of war objectives to include the safe return of residents who have been displaced from their homes near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon due to months of fighting with Hezbollah.
“Israel will continue to act to implement this objective,” the prime minister’s office said.
In a meeting the same day with Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the only way to achieve that goal was “via military action.”
Gallant sought to emphasize that the possibility for an agreement to avoid escalation with Hezbollah was running out due to the militant group continuing to “tie itself” to Hamas, his office said in a statement.
It added that the defense minister and a number of other senior Israel Defense Forces officials “presented the IDF’s operations against Hezbollah forces” to Hochstein. The U.S. and others have voiced fears that an expanded military operation from its al
Gallant’s warning came as the defense minister himself appeared to face mounting pressure to adopt a tougher stance on Israel’s approach in the north, as media speculation swirled that Netanyahu was set to fire him.
Reports from Israeli media suggested Netanyahu had been weighing the possibility of replacing Gallant with New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar, a staunch critic of the government’s handling of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. But the prime minister’s office told NBC News in a statement on Monday that reports of any negotiations with Sa’ar were “not correct.”