By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency / Jewish News Agency
Jerusalem, Israel — August 8, 2024 … A message from Israel’s Minister of Defense to the people of Lebanon:
Citizens of Lebanon,
Shiite Iran and those who submit [to its ideology], led by Hezbollah, have taken Lebanon and its people hostage for the sake of narrow sectarian interests.
The State of Israel seeks peace, prosperity and stability on both sides of the northern border. Therefore, we will not allow Hezbollah terrorists to destabilize the border and the region.
If Hezbollah continues its aggression, Israel will fight it, with all its might.
Remember Nasrallah’s regret following the dangerous and miscalculated adventure he embarked on, in August 2006 – learn the lesson of the past so as not to fall into a dangerous scenario in August 2024.
“He who plays with fire may expect destruction” [translated from an Arabic saying].
The United States warned Iran that it would suffer a devastating blow if it launches a major attack on Israel. The warning has been conveyed to Tehran both directly and through intermediaries, a US official said without elaborating.
“The United States has sent clear messaging to Iran that the risk of a major escalation, if they use Hezbollah and other proxies to create a significant retaliatory attack against Israel, is extremely high.”
The U.S. official stated that the U.S. military would not remain passive. That the United States now has 4 aircraft carriers, dozens of ships and hundreds of combat jets ready to respond.
An Israeli security source stated: “If Iran believes that they can massacre 1,200 innocent Israeli citizens via Hamas on October 7, murder Druze and Christian children, attack our brothers and sisters in the U.S. military and walk away from more terror attacks, they are very wrong. We will turn Tehran into a parking lot without cars. Iran, which is the third-largest oil reserve holder in the world will have no oil after an attack on Israel.”
If the IRGC damaged any critical infrastructure “Israel would have to respond in a very massive way, not unlike the manner that they responded to the Houthi drone attack … and they did enormous damage to the port of Hodeidah in Yemen.”
The only direct Iranian attack against Israel was launched in April this year forcing the IDF to carry out airstrikes against the central Iranian city of Isfahan. The attack was limited but a show of power from Jerusalem as they displayed a willingness to target a site containing nuclear facilities.
Many of the targets that the United States, England, France and Israel would address are facilities usually found underground and could be easily taken out by bunker buster bombs. Israel could also initiate an attack on Iranian-backed fighters in Syria, Lebanon or Iraq.
The latest crisis follows the assassinations last week of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah terrorist commander, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader who was responsible for the Hamas Massacre on October 7. Israel has said it had eliminated Shukr in retaliation for rocket attacks from Lebanon that murdered 12 Druze children.
This evening Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that pursuant to the proposal by the U.S. and the mediators, Israel will, on 15 August, send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement.