TEL AVIV, September 25. /TASS/. The Israeli military continues to strike Hezbollah’s military sites on Wednesday and is preparing a ground operation, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said.

"We do not stop. Fighter jets are attacking all day. We are preparing a [ground] maneuver," he said as he visited a military drill, according to an IDF statement.

The IDF is pursuing a goal to safely return the residents of northern Israel to their homes, Halevi said. As the military will be carrying out the ground operation, "your boots will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, assembly points, and launchpads," Halevi he told the soldiers.

Halevi said that on September 25 Hezbollah extended its range of fire by shelling the Tel Aviv area and vowed the group will receive a "very strong" response later today.