The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a warning Monday to civilians in southern Lebanon to leave homes and buildings that are used by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group to store weapons, because of imminent attacks.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari posted videos in English and Hebrew (with Arabic subtitles) explaining how Hezbollah stores missiles inside civilian buildings — and how the IDF identifies and attacks those weapons.
Israel has, thus far, stopped short of a formal declaration of war against Hezbollah. Asked whether the current escalation amounted to a Third Lebanon War, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer did not answer directly but referred to the fact that Hezbollah had initiated the conflict by attacking Israel with rockets on October 8 without provocation. Hezbollah has continued to fire at Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, in the year since.
Israel has hit hundreds of targets in southern Lebanon over the past several days, and Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets. Few of the Hezbollah rockets have caused much damage, thanks to Israel’s Iron Dome system, but some have hit civilian homes in Israel. One man said Monday that he and his family barely survived a direct attack on their home, and only avoided death by following the Home Front Command instructions to retreat to their reinforced “safe room” and to close the door.
Unlike Israel, Hezbollah deliberately targets civilians, or fires rockets that are unguided and in an indiscriminate fashion that is likely to result in deadly effects on civilian populations, which is a war crime.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.