Netanyahu reveals Israel’s ‘surprising plans’ for Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel has “surprising plans” for Lebanon.

“We have eliminated hundreds of Hezbollah operatives, and the hand is still bent, even today,” Netanyahu stated on Thursday. “We have detailed, important, even surprising plans,” he added, without further details.

This announcement followed an Israeli drone strike that killed a Hezbollah fighter in his car in Nabatiyeh. The incident is part of ongoing violence that has affected lives on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border since the Israel-Hamas conflict intensified in Gaza.

Since the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been engaged in near-daily cross-border fire with Israel. In the over seven months of conflict, at least 429 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 82 civilians, according to AFP. On the Israeli side, 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been reported killed.

Despite these fatalities, both sides have managed to control the intensity and range of their strikes to avoid escalating into a full-scale war.