Israel Warns it can Return Lebanon to ‘Stone Age’

Speaking to reporters, Gallant also said he discussed with senior U.S. officials his “day after” proposals for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners and the U.S., but that it would be “a long and complex process.”

“We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Wednesday in Washington, DC. “Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched.”

Israel was capable of taking “Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it”, he said.

The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-aligned Lebanese group Hezbollah since the current conflict in Gaza broke out on October 7. Fears of a full-blown war grew this month after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was preparing for “a very tense operation” on the border with Lebanon.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has also threatened a war with “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings” in case of a major Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

Gallant’s language echoes rhetoric used by Benny Gantz, a former general and leader of Israel’s National Unity party who recently resigned from the war cabinet citing the failure to agree on a plan for Gaza beyond the war.

In a series of campaign videos ahead of general elections in 2019, Gantz referred to sending the Palestinian enclave “back to the Stone Age” during the 2014 Gaza war, a campaign he oversaw as the army chief.

Source: Al-Jazeera