The Israel Defense Forces’ General Staff Forum, which includes around 30 of the military’s most senior commanders, held a “day of readiness” devoted to the northern front on Monday, the IDF said in a short statement.
The summit, convened at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv and led by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, included Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, Military Intelligence Directorate head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, Operations Directorate head Maj. Gen. Oded Basyuk, OC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin and Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar.
פורום המטה הכללי קיים היום יום מוכנות לחזית הצפונית בראשות הרמטכ״ל, רב-אלוף הרצי הלוי, ובהשתתפות סגן הרמטכ״ל, ר׳ אמ״ן, ר׳ אמ״ץ, מפקד פיקוד הצפון, מפקד חיל האוויר ומפקדים נוספים pic.twitter.com/g3amCFxI4A
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 19, 2024
Iran and its regional terrorist proxies have vowed to avenge both the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s so-called “political” bureau, and Fuad Shukr, a senior member of Hezbollah whom Israeli defense officials have described as the Lebanese terrorist group’s No. 2 man.
On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s incoming defense minister, Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, told lawmakers in Tehran that Israel “crossed red lines by committing various war crimes against the oppressed Palestinian nation in Gaza and its cowardly assassinations.”
Nasirzadeh emphasized that the “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in the Middle East, is part of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces.
“The resistance front is not separate from us; when we talk about the armed forces, the resistance front is also included,” he said, adding that Pezeshkian’s government will bolster arms exports to terrorist allies.
Earlier on Monday, one IDF officer was killed and another was seriously wounded when a suicide drone launched from Lebanon slammed into Moshav Ya’ara in the Western Galilee.
According to Hezbollah’s Al-Akhbar daily, an IDF drone subsequently targeted a vehicle in the area of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, near Tyre in Southern Lebanon. The report claimed there were multiple casualties.
مسيرة إسرائيلية تستهدف آلية في بلدة دير قانون رأس العين (قضاء صور) جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/0OiiIbHpaK
— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) August 19, 2024
Hezbollah has attacked Israel’s north nearly every day since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, firing thousands of drones, rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli towns, killing more than 40 people and causing widespread damage.
Tens of thousands of Israeli civilians remain internally displaced due to the ongoing attacks from Lebanon.
