Israeli PM Netanyahu Warns Lebanon Of ‘Destruction Like Gaza’

New Delhi: In a video message released on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the people of Lebanon that they could face “destruction and suffering” like the Palestinians in Gaza if they don’t “free” their country from Hezbollah.

“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an address directed to the people of Lebanon. “I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”

“You stand at a significant crossroads … Stand up and take back your country,” he said. “If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war.”

Netanyahu said Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists, including (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement and the replacement of his replacement.”

The Israeli military has been pummelling the southern suburbs of Beirut with continual air raids, targeting Hezbollah’s leaders, military installations and weapons caches. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hezbollah had been “battered and broken” by the relentless strikes on its strongholds and the killing of its leader.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah warned that it would intensify attacks on Israel, including the northern port city of Haifa, if it continues to strike Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy’s intensifying strikes” mean that “Haifa and other locations will be targeted by our rockets just as much as Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and other” locations, the group said. The Israeli army earlier reported that 85 projectiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, including Haifa.