Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the northern border today (Sunday) where he conducted a situational assessment with senior IDF commanders and also laid out his conditions for an end to the war with Hezbollah.
Netanyahu insisted that "With or without an agreement, the key to restoring the calm and security in the north, the key to returning our residents in the north safely to their homes, is...to push Hezbollah beyond the Litani. Second is to strike at any attempt to rearm itself. Third is to respond vigorously to any action against us. Simply put, enforcement, enforcement, enforcement – and cutting off Hezbollah's pipeline from Iran through Syria. To all of this we are committed."
This statement clearly delineated both the determination of the Israeli government to remove the Hezbollah threat and cut it off from further reinforcement and resupply, while also avoiding any commitment which might lead to the IDF becoming bogged down in Lebanon as a whole, as it did in 1982.
Netanyahu then went on to praise the soldiers who were fighting the war: "I sat with them just now and I was greatly impressed. One must see their readiness and their fighting spirit. I met with brigade, battalion and company commanders. One of the brigade commanders told me: 'We have the privilege to defend our country. We are making history.'"
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