Israel announces ground operation in Lebanon

– Hezbollah has expanded the area of ​​its attacks today. Today, later in the day, it will receive a very strong response – said the head of the General Staff of the Defense Forces Israel General Herci Halevi to soldiers during exercises simulating combat in Lebanon.

On Wednesday morning, supported by Iran Shiite Hezbollah announced that it had fired a ballistic missile at the Mossad headquarters north of Tel Aviv. An alert was raised in the city. The Israeli military said the missile was shot down by a David's Sling air defense system and caused no casualties or damage.

This was Hezbollah's first attack on Tel Aviv. Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, there has been regular exchange of fire between Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, and Israel. Until now, mutual shelling has been limited to the border areas. A few days ago, the scope and intensity of the attacks increased significantly. In airstrikes on Lebanon, more than 600 people have died, including at least 50 children, and more than two thousand people have been injured.

Israel also expanded its attacks on Wednesday, with rockets falling on the mountain village of Maajsara, north of Beirut. Previously, the attacks had focused on targets in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in the northeastern part of the country. Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Wednesday killed at least 51 people and wounded 223, according to the health ministry.

– You hear these planes, we are attacking all day long. Both to prepare the area for your entry (into Lebanon – ed.) and to continue to strike Hezbollah – Halevi told the soldiers on Wednesday. – We will enter enemy territory, we will enter villages that Hezbollah has transformed into extensive military outposts prepared to attack our civilians – the commander added.

– You will go there, destroy the enemy and ultimately destroy its infrastructure – the general noted. He assessed that these actions will allow securing the northern territory of Israel and the return to this area of ​​tens of thousands of residents evacuated due to Hezbollah shelling, which is to be the official Israeli goal of the war.

Due to Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon, tens of thousands of civilians had evacuated from the area before the current escalation. Tens of thousands more fled after Monday's wave of airstrikes began. Some roads were blocked by refugees, for whom temporary shelters were also set up.

Hezbollah is one of Lebanon's largest political forces, and its armed wing, which the West considers a terrorist organization, is seen as one of the world's most powerful non-state armies. The group, which declares its desire to destroy Israel, has been fighting regular skirmishes with the state for decades, escalating into open warfare in 2006.