Israel warns of ‘all-out war’ with Hezbollah as Hamas rep gloats about Oct. 7 attack
Israel warned about the prospects of an “all-out war” in Lebanon after Hezbollah militants published disturbing drone footage threatening the Jewish state – as Hamas’ representative in Lebanon claimed the terror group would carry out the Oct. 7 massacre all over again if given the chance.
As tensions boil along the Israel-Lebanon border, the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group published a roughly 10-minute video on Tuesday, allegedly taken by drone, depicting several Israeli military sites and residential cities that were tagged “highly populated.”
Israeli officials slammed the propaganda video as an unabashed threat against the Jewish state, warning the Hamas allies and Iran-backed terror group that they would lose should a two-front war break out.
“We are getting very close to the moment of deciding to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed, and Lebanon severely beaten,” he added.
The disturbing footage heavily focused on the city of Haifa, where the terrorists pinged a military base and port, as well as Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, the Times of Israel reported.
The video also showed the residential neighborhood in Kiryat Yam, with Hifa mayor Yona Yahav condemning the video as “psychological terror” and calling on the IDF to make sure his city’s safety is assured.
“I demand that the government present a plan for the massive defense of Haifa and find a military solution to eliminate the threat posed from the north,” Yahav told Israeli radio station Reshet Bet.
Hezbollah has warned that the drone footage is just one of several it has prepared.
The terror group published th menacing video just days after Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi, appeared in an interview with a Lebanese newspaper gloating about the Oct. 7 massacre that left more than 1,200 people dead and ignited the war in Gaza.
Despite the deaths of more than 37,000 people in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, Al-Hadi laughed when an Annahar newspaper reporter asked him if he could go back in time and change the outcome, according to a translation from Memri TV.
“We would do it again!” Al-Hadi said as he laughed, claiming the attack was necessary to stop a looming alliance seeking permanent peace in the Middle East.
“The Palestinian cause was about to be eliminated. In line with the American enterprise in the region, the occupation was being assimilated into the region,” he claimed of the US-led talks seeking to normalize Israeli-Arab relations.
The terrorist officials also asserted that the Oct. 7 attack was a “preemptive strike,” accusing Israel of planning to attack Gaza first without providing evidence to the claim.
“We wanted to turn the tables on them, in order to say to them: Palestine is here to stay,” Al-Hadi said. “So if we could go back in time, we would do it again, because the justifications still exist.”
The ongoing missile strikes between IDF and Hezbollah have forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
Attacks from the terror group have killed about 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, according to the IDF.
The Israeli military estimates that it has killed more than 320 Hezbollah members since the conflict began.
