This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has called on the Lebanese government to cancel today’s meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington, describing the talks as pointless.
“Diplomacy has not even advanced one step,” he said, warning that the terror group will not cease its action against Israel where northern communities were still taking cover from rocket and UAV attacks overnight.
Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US who is leading the Israeli delegation, told his Lebanese counterpart Sunday during their first-ever phone call that despite the planned peace negotiations, Israel will not cease military activity against the Hezbollah.
In a statement last night, the IDF said that in the past 24 hours, the military had struck approximately 150 Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon, including rocket launchers and UAVs, military structures, anti-tank missile launch points, and terror command centres.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a government meeting yesterday that the army was continuing to redraw borders between the northern communities and Hezbollah.
“We are not talking about five points; we are talking about a solid, deeper security zone that both prevents the danger of invasion and distances the anti-tank missile threat,” he said.
Amid ongoing plans to regenerate the war-torn north, which has been under fire from the Lebanese terror group since the outbreak of war on October 7, the Prime Minister also announced development plans for the Golan region, saying it would see “a massive development surge”.
At the government meeting, the head of the Katzrin local council, Yehuda Dua, said that Katzrin and the Golan Heights will be developed with 3,000 new housing units. “We will strengthen academia, research, and the University of Kiryat Shmona with a branch in Katzrin, a faculty and a veterinary hospital, and many other great and significant things,” he added.
Overnight, the IDF also announced the death of Major (res.) Eyal Uriel Bianco, 30, a married father of three from Katzrin, who died in a Hummer overturn in southern Lebanon.
This story originally appeared in the JC Israel Briefing. You can sign up to receive the briefing daily here.
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