Israel adds safe return of northern residents to war goals

Israel’s Security Cabinet overnight Monday added returning Israelis displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon closer to reality.

“The Security Cabinet has updated the objectives of the war to include the following: Returning the residents of the north securely to their homes,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a terse statement on Tuesday morning. “Israel will continue to act to implement this objective.”

According to government figures, over 60,000 people have been evacuated from their residences near the Lebanese border since last October, when the Iranian-backed terror army began near-daily rocket and drone attacks in support of Hamas, after the Gaza-based terror group initiated a war by invading the northwestern Negev.

Communities in the Galilee and Golan have become increasingly frustrated at the ongoing attacks and the government’s response in Jerusalem.

According to Channel 12, the military is discussing an expanded operation in Lebanon, including the timing and the details.

“In the military, there’s a reluctance to repeat the precedent set in Gaza, where the objectives of the war were not clearly defined” ahead of time, according to the report.

“Instead, they have established several clear targets for defining the success of the operation. Among these targets are: the return of residents, a significant buildup of forces along the border, and pushing Hezbollah forces away from the border. A senior security official stated that preparations should be made for a prolonged campaign that will exact a heavy toll.”

According to the Channel 12 report, “In the IDF, they are convinced that the State of Israel has passed the [tipping point]—that there is no resolution and the situation is escalating, and no one is saying anything different.

“This has enormous implications, but in the security establishment, there is a firm belief that Israel cannot, at this stage, be satisfied with a ‘targeted operation’ like those seen in previous years in Gaza, for example. They believe that a broad and comprehensive action throughout Lebanon, including Dahieh [a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut], is necessary.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein on Monday that the thousands of displaced Israelis will not be able to return without military or diplomatic action against the terror group.

Netanyahu “made it very clear that it will not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” according to a readout from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

While Jerusalem “appreciates and respects” the Biden administration’s support, it will “ultimately do what is necessary to safeguard its security and return the residents of the north securely to their homes,” he told Hochstein during a meeting at Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The additional war goal comes amid reports that Netanyahu is considering replacing Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant with New Hope Party leader Gideon Sa’ar.

Gallant for his part publicly supports an expanded military operation to remove the Hezbollah threat in the north, telling his American counterpart Lloyd Austin during a call on Monday that time was running out for an agreed-upon de-escalation with the terror proxy.

“The possibility of a settlement in the north is passing. Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas. The direction is clear,” Gallant told Austin in an overnight phone call, according to the Defense Ministry.

Gallant also met with Hochstein on Monday. The Biden envoy reportedly warned that a major military operation against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon will not bring about the return of Israel’s displaced residents.

Hochstein informed Gallant that the United States supports a diplomatic deal with Hezbollah, including through a truce with Hamas terrorists in Gaza, a source familiar with the conversation told local media. The United States envoy warned that military action would raise the risk of all-out regional war.

Gallant was said to have informed the White House envoy that only Israeli military action against Hezbollah can create conditions that will allow Israel to return the evacuees to their homes safely.