Netanyahu: Hezbollah's Entry into War Would Be the Group's Biggest Mistake

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a group of Israeli soldiers near the Lebanon border on Sunday, October 22, amid ongoing tensions between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. Netanyahu warned, "If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will long for the Second Lebanon War." The First Lebanon War began in July 2006 following Hezbollah's attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Israeli citizens and soldiers, hundreds of members of the Iran-backed group, and Lebanese civilians, ending with UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Netanyahu further warned Hezbollah that entering the war would be their "biggest mistake in life." He stated, "We will attack with such power that they cannot even imagine, and the consequences for [Hezbollah] and for Lebanon will be devastating." Addressing his soldiers, he said, "I know you lost your friends, and this is very difficult, but we are in a war for our lives and our homeland." He continued, "This is not an exaggeration; it is the reality of this war. It is a war of killing or being killed, and they must be killed." As tensions escalated at the Lebanon-Israel border, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib called on Israel to declare a 48-hour ceasefire to determine who is responsible for the escalation in the region. Bou Habib stated in an interview with CNN that Lebanon is concerned about the spread of war in the region, saying, "We really do not want war. The government does not want war. We are in dialogue with various groups. But it is uncontrollable because everything depends on what is happening in Gaza." Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner stated that the Lebanese government is responsible for any attacks from Lebanese territory. The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of the northern city of Kiryat Shmona due to escalating tensions at the Lebanon border, with most of the city's 22,000 residents having already left. The Israeli Ministry of Defense also announced that in response to rocket and missile fire on Thursday towards northern Israel, several other sites belonging to the terrorist group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon were targeted. Arash Sigarachi, a reporter from the Persian section of Voice of America in Israel, reported that tensions between the Israeli army and Iranian proxies, including Hezbollah, have increased.