"All options, including the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table," the Iranian officials said, referring to the alliance of armed groups backed by Iran, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen’s Houthis and Iraqi Shiite militias.
The threats from Iran come after former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz declared on Tuesday: “We can plunge Lebanon completely into the dark and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday warned that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are capable of bringing Lebanon “back to the Stone Age.” But "we don’t want to get into a war because it’s not good for Israel," he added during a visit to Washington.
According to U.S. intelligence, a large-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah is likely to break out in the next several weeks if the Israeli government and Hamas fail to reach a cease-fire deal in Gaza.
According to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) and reported by Al Jazeera, there have been some 7,400 cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon since Oct. 7.
The escalating tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border prompted Germany, the Netherlands and Canada this week to urge their citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible via the commercial flights still operating in the country. The U.S., which has a slightly more conservative assessment, issued a travel advisory for U.S. citizens, urging them to “strongly reconsider” travel to Lebanon.