TEL AVIV, November 14. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for any scenario on the border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah fighters continue shelling Israeli territory.
"On the northern front, there are currently exchanges of severe blows. We are striking Hezbollah but my directive to the IDF is to prepare for any scenario. I suggest that Hezbollah not try the State of Israel; it will be the mistake of its life," he said in a statement released by the cabinet.
He made the statement when meeting with council heads of the country’s northern areas.
The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by mass killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.
Tensions also continue to rise on Israel's northern border, where shelling from Lebanon has become regular. Israel has been retaliating with its own fire, targeting Hezbollah sites, according to the IDF. Israeli announced an evacuation of residents from northern settlements that are within 5 km from the border.