ISRAEL will turn southern Lebanon into a “death zone” with nothing left standing, an ex-spy has warned.
Tel Aviv appears to be preparing to invade its northern neighbour as it shifts its focus north from Gaza with a new “phase” and war goal.
ReutersAn Israeli fighter jet takes off to bomb Lebanon on Thursday[/caption]
AFPSmoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike in Lebanon[/caption]
AFP – GettyLebanese Hezbollah fighters stand near rocket launcher vehicles[/caption]
AP:Associated PressIsrael fought Hezbollah in a 2006 war which ended inconclusively[/caption]
Tensions have skyrocketed after Israel blitzed the country with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that left at least 37 dead and 3,600 wounded.
The Wall Street Journal reported US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has told senior Pentagon officials he feared Israel could soon invade.
A Lebanon invasion to fight Hezbollah has wide support in Israel, with one poll finding it had 71 per cent of the country’s backing.
Former Mossad spy Avner Avraham said his country should create a 10km “death zone” inside Lebanon by invading it and forcibly displacing locals.
The Hezbollah “terror machine”, he told The Sun, needed to be pushed back from the border to prevent a second October 7 and make short-range missiles useless.
He said: “To bring back the families to the north, you cannot bring them without destroying and pushing all of Hezbollah from the border.
“We will make a death zone behind our border. Zero people, zero villages. Nothing.
“Everyone that will go there will be shut down.”
Israel has now shifted strategy away from assassinating commanders and is trying to kill a large number of Hezbollah fighters – something an invasion could do.
“We don’t need the current situation and when we have the war we will destroy Hezbollah,” he said.
“But unfortunately the Lebanese will suffer from this.
“If they [Lebanon’s government] don’t solve the problem, we will solve the problem.
“We tried to do peace with them, we tried.”
If Israel were to invade, the pager strike has filled hospitals and sewn chaos amongst the group’s internal communication ability.
But former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed said he didn’t believe the country would invade Lebanon.
Instead, he believes the country is trying to project its strength and declare to enemies in the region that it is not to be messed with – a year after October 7.
Israel, he said, could be attempting to avoid a large operation by sending a “painful message” to Hezbollah.
IDFThe IDF released footage of it bombing targets[/caption]
EyevineInjured Israeli soldiers evacuated via helicopter near the northern border[/caption]
He said: “In the equation of survival and power in the Middle East projection of might and deterrence is and enormously significant component.
“Israel hopes that will be something that will encourage Hezbollah in a way, or incentivise Hezbollah in a way, to start looking for practical ways to end this skirmish with Israel.”
Israel, then, would need to give Hezbollah a way it could save face and appear to come out of the conflict positively to its supporters.
But Melamed said if an invasion happens or not could depend on what the US’ position is.
He said: “Sometimes you get dynamics on the ground that you may plan A, and it will become B, because the dynamics on the ground dictate something different.”
Israel followed up its devastating pager and walkie-talkie attacks with the biggest warplane blitz of the 11-month war.
The IDF claimed to destroy 100 rocket launchers and around 1,000 launch barrels in the strikes.
Speaking for the first time on Thursday since the deadly device sabotage, Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah vowed Israel would face retribution.
Nasrallah said Israel would face “tough retribution and just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not” and described the attacks as a “massacre” and a possible “act of war”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami assured ally Nasrallah that Israel will face “a crushing response from the axis of resistance”.
Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK has warned of a “doomsday” if Israel were to invade and said the country’s troops would not stand “idly by”.
He told The Times: “It’s definitely a doomsday for Lebanon but Lebanon will not hurt alone in this war.”
Mortada also said Hezbollah had become a “formidable fighting force” and claimed Israel should be weary of another inconclusive war like in 2006.
Israeli Defence Forces’ crack 98th Division has been redeployed to the north from Gaza and will be fine tuning battle plans over the weekend in readiness for a ground invasion.
Netanyahu is also poised to sack his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant who has been pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza to get the hostages returned.
The Israeli Prime Minister has been pushing for a broader battle in the north, The Times reports.
Where did the pagers come from?
By James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
Iranian proxy Hezbollah ordered the pagers months ago but never thought the quaint piece of tech could be tampered with.
Hezbollah shifted to pagers after the group’s leader told members to stop using phones in February over fears they could be tracked by Israeli spies.
A senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered 5,000 beepers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which were brought into the country in the spring.
But Gold Apollo told media in Taipei the specific order was manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT in Budapest.
Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-kuang said BAC asked to manufacture their own pagers with the company’s trademark and they were paid from a mystery Middle Eastern bank account, NPR reports.
BAC Consulting chief executive Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono confirmed to media that her company worked with Gold Apollo.
But said: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.”
At some point during the manufacture, the devices were modified by Israel’s spy service with a small amount of explosive.
The AR-924 pager is described as being “rugged” and contains a rechargeable lithium battery with 85 days of battery life.
Their longevity would be important in Lebanon which has suffered major power outages.
Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies and harder for Israel to hack digitally.
Reports now claim Mossad set up shell companies to build the devices themselves.
The New York Times reported BAC is an Israeli shell company, one of at least three used by spies to mask their identity.
BAC took on ordinary clients for whom they produced ordinary pagers.
Pagers sent to Hezbollah, however, contained the explosive PETN.
Hezbollah is a “criminal organisation” and uses a number of fronts to buy and sell the weapons and resources the group needs.
These fronts are called ‘monkey firms’ by the Israelis.
Mossad was able to penetrate Hezbollah’s supply chain, possibly with its own ‘monkeys’, and completely fool Hezbollah.
EPAPeople watch Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah speak[/caption]
AFPIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly pushing for war[/caption]
RexAn Israeli tank in Gaza[/caption]