'At A Crossroads': Netanyahu Says Lebanon Faces Destruction 'Like Gaza' As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Aiding Israel

In a video message released on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the people of Lebanon that they could face “destruction and suffering” like the Palestinians in Gaza if they don’t “free” their country from Hezbollah.

“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an address directed to the people of Lebanon. “I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end.”

“You stand at a significant crossroads … Stand up and take back your country,” he said. “If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war.”

‘Nasrallah’s replacement’ Killed

Netanyahu said Israeli forces “took out thousands of terrorists, including (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement and the replacement of his replacement.”

On Saturday, a high-level Hezbollah source said that contact had been lost with Hashem Safieddine — widely touted as Hezbollah’s next leader — following Israeli strikes last week. In a later comment, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari did not confirm that Safieddine had been killed.

“We attacked the headquarters in Beirut’s Dahiyeh area… and we know that Safieddine was there,” Rear Admiral Hagari told a televised briefing, referring to Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah bastion. “The results of this attack are still being investigated. Hezbollah is trying to hide the details,” Hagari claimed.

‘Continual air raids’

The Israeli military has been pummelling the southern suburbs of Beirut with continual air raids, targeting Hezbollah’s leaders, military installations and weapons caches. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hezbollah had been “battered and broken” by the relentless strikes on its strongholds and the killing of its leader.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah warned that it would intensify attacks on Israel, including the northern port city of Haifa, if it continues to strike Lebanon. “The Israeli enemy’s intensifying strikes” mean that “Haifa and other locations will be targeted by our rockets just as much as Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and other” locations, the group said. The Israeli army earlier reported that 85 projectiles were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, including Haifa.

‘Unacceptable’

Hezbollah’s alleged patron Iran has told Gulf states it would be “unacceptable” if they allowed their airspace to be used against Iran, and any such move would draw a response, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday, amid concerns about possible Israeli retaliation for last week’s Iranian missile attack.

The official was speaking as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi headed to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for talks. The comments also followed discussions between Iran and Gulf Arab capitals last week on the sidelines of an Asia conference in Qatar, when Gulf states sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in any conflict between Tehran and Israel.

Humanitarian “catastrophe”

The UN chief on Tuesday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a humanitarian “catastrophe” over Israeli legislation that could prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating. Speaking to reporters, Antonio Guterres said he had written to Netanyahu about draft laws in the Israeli parliament that “could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, approved two bills on Sunday essentially aimed at ending UNRWA’s activity and privileges in Israel. One bill seeks to prevent UNRWA from operating any institution or providing any services or activity in Israel. The second bill deems that UNRWA workers would not enjoy immunity or special rights enjoyed by other UN workers in Israel.

“It would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster,” Guterres said, adding that “the legislation would likely deal a terrible blow to the international humanitarian response in Gaza.”

(With agency inputs)