For days now, the war reports from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) refer more to the northern border than to the southern one. While it is still far from controlling Gaza, there are more and more signs that Israel is preparing a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to end the harassment of Hezbollah, which is constantly launching projectiles, similar to what Hamas has been carrying out from the strip. in recent years. After October 7, Israel evacuated 80,000 inhabitants from towns near the border with Lebanon; Even so, five civilians have died since that day due to attacks by the pro-Iranian guerrilla.

Beniamin Netanyahu’s days are numbered once the Gaza war ends. Israeli society holds him responsible for not preventing the Hamas terrorist attack. A new war, in Lebanon, would not only extend his mandate, but would redeem him in public opinion from the errors of October 7.

The British newspaper The Times published on Monday that Israel is preparing to invade southern Lebanon, citing a senior military source. “Israeli doctrine is to take the war to the other side,” said that unnamed source, adding that the military threat from Hamas “is nothing compared” to that of Hizbullah.

In this sense, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said yesterday that “unless a diplomatic solution is found and implemented, we will continue to make the necessary preparations to eliminate the threat from our border” with Lebanon.

Israel’s plan would consist of occupying southern Lebanon to move, de facto, the border line “north of the Litani River”, causing Hizbullah to retreat above that position, according to what the Israeli Foreign Minister told him on Sunday. Eli Cohen, to his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, visiting Israel. “The issue can be resolved diplomatically or with military action,” Cohen said in a statement.

The drums of war expansion sound and Colonna’s journey is no coincidence. Lebanon is a former French colony and the minister was in Beirut yesterday to “do everything possible to avoid a conflagration in the region.” Netanyahu recently also warned of a ground invasion. “If Hizbullah decides to start an all-out war, it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon into Gaza and Khan Younis,” he said.

Meanwhile, one of the usual Hamas spokespersons, Osama Hamdan, reiterated – precisely from Lebanon – that the Islamist organization will not negotiate the release of the Israeli hostages until Israel stops the war, cooling the expectation of a new dialogue between both parties. . Under pressure from the relatives of those kidnapped after the army “mistakenly” killed three of them in Gaza, Netanyahu assured on Saturday that he had ordered Mossad to explore new negotiations with Hamas. “We are open to initiatives from Qatar and Egypt on a hostage exchange that would stop the war in Gaza,” Hamdan said, however.