Israel Launching Invasion of Lebanon ‘Within Hours’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Preparations were underway late Monday for Israel to invade Lebanon “the moment that the security cabinet approves” the military operation, meaning within hours, Israeli sources say.
The cabinet, which started to meet on the issue at 7:30 p.m. local time, was likely to focus on southern Lebanon to remove the capabilities of Hezbollah to invade Israel and threaten Israel’s northern border towns.
Ahead of the widely anticipated invasion, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declared closed “military zones” in the border area, Worthy News learned.
Earlier in the day, the IDF said they destroyed a warehouse of surface-to-air missile launchers that Hezbollah had placed just about 1.5 kilometers (nearly 1 mile) from Lebanon’s Beirut International Airport.
The placement of these missiles was “a threat to the international airspace for passenger planes and could hit any aircraft flying into the Lebanese airspace,” the military said
Separately, there were reports of shootings at Tel Aviv’s Azrieli Mall Monday night, leaving two people injured, including a 30-year-old in moderate condition and a 25-year-old in minor condition.
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While the attack was later attributed to a security guard and not described as a terror attack, it came as the city was still reeling from ballistic missile attacks, including from Iran-backed Hezbollah.
As the invasion of Lebanon was underway, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also had a warning for Tehran, saying ”Iran’s regime will fall soon” as he envisioned a “future peace” between Israel and “a free Iran.”
With Israeli attacks against Iran-allied fighters ongoing, “The Islamic Republic will collapse sooner than people think, and the Iranian people will be free, paving the way for relations between these two ancient cultures,” Netanyahu pledged in published remarks.
“When Iran is finally free – and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different,” he said.
“When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled,” Netanyahu explained, adding that Iran will “thrive as never before.”
He spoke two weeks into a series of Israeli military strikes that officials said “eliminated Hezbollah’s command structure,” including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.