Israeli war cabinet member, Benny Gantz has stated that “Israel will not put up with the threat that Hezbollah poses to the residents of the north” of the country.
“The State of Lebanon is obligated to take responsibility for the terrorism that emanates from its territory. The interest in reaching a diplomatic solution in the border area is first of all the interest of Lebanon,” Gantz said on X.
“The State of Israel will do everything necessary to protect its citizens and allow them to return safely to their homes.”
Attacks between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon has increased.
At present, Israel is stepping up its military operations; air attacks striking deeper into Lebanon.
Overnight, it targeted a site in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region approximately 20km (12 miles) from the border, an area where Hezbollah has military assets.
The overnight strike could have been in response to Hezbollah firing surface-to-air missiles that exploded close to Israeli helicopters flying in Israeli air space close to the border.
It seems that both sides are sending messages to each other – a form of deterrence.
The frequency of the attacks has increased, but it is still largely confined to the border area.
Israel-Hamas War To Push Lebanon Back Into Recession
According to findings made in a report by the World Bank, fallout from the Israel-Gaza war is projected to send Lebanon’s already struggling economy back into a “recession.”
“While the country remains mired in political and institutional vacuum, and a crippling socioeconomic crisis for over four years, it has now been hit by another large shock: fear that the current conflict centred in Gaza could escalate further into Lebanon,” the report said.
It added that as long as fighting continues, “the economy is estimated to contract in 2023, primarily due to the shock to tourism spending.”
Lebanon’s southern border has seen regular exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the Gaza conflict erupted on October 7.
The impact of the conflict had reversed a slight recovery for Lebanon, which has battled a deep economic crisis for years, the Washington-based bank said in a report.
“Prior to October 2023, economic growth was projected, for the first time since 2018, to slightly expand in 2023,” by 0.2 percent, the World Bank said.
It attributed the positive pre-war expectations mainly to summer tourism and remittances from the large Lebanese diaspora.
But, it added, “the current conflict and its spillovers into Lebanon are expected to quickly reverse the tepid growth projected for 2023, as the economy returns to a recession.”
More than half of travel reservations to Lebanon have been cancelled for winter holidays, the World Bank said, warning that “tourism cannot, on its own, serve as the basis for an economic recovery.”
Real gross domestic product is expected to decline “to between minus 0.6 percent to minus 0.9 percent depending on the extent of the tourism shock,” it added.
