TEL AVIV, Israel (AP): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will restore security in the north “one way or another” during a tour of the border with Lebanon.
His visit on Wednesday came a day after after large brush fires ignited by Hezbollah rocket attacks burned in a number of locations. At a meeting with soldiers and firefighters, Netanyahu said Israel is “prepared for very strong action in the north.”
“Yesterday the land was burning here, and I’m glad you put it out, but the ground was also on fire in Lebanon,” he said.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group began launching rockets at Israel a day after the war in Gaza broke out with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire daily in violence that has pushed the region to the brink of a wider war.
Israel’s national parks authority says a total of nearly 40,000 dunams (9,900 acres) have burned since the end of May in multiple brush fires, many of which were started by rockets and other projectiles fired from Lebanon. It says it could take years to rehabilitate the area.
