Galant threatened a few days ago that the Israeli army would move “very soon” on the Lebanese border (Reuters)

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that Tel Aviv is ready to resolve the conflict in southern Lebanon, through diplomatic understandings, days after he threatened a “very close” move by the Israeli army on the northern front, where the escalation continued yesterday, Sunday.

In a statement issued by his office, Gallant met on Sunday with Amos Hochstein, chief advisor to US President Joe Biden, and informed him that Tel Aviv is ready to resolve the conflict in southern Lebanon (with Lebanese Hezbollah) through diplomatic understandings. But he added, "But we are also prepared for any other scenario."

Gallant added that Israel is "committed to improving the security situation along Israel's northern border, including removing infiltration and shooting threats from Lebanon."

According to a statement from Gallant's office, the two parties discussed "the necessity of changing the security situation in the northern arena, and discussed ways to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north."

Hezbollah and the occupation army have been exchanging shelling across the Lebanese border for about 4 months (French)

Gallant threats

Last week, Gallant said that the Israeli army “will move very soon” on the border with Lebanon.

The minister informed Israeli reserve soldiers stationed near the border with Gaza that they would leave the area to move to the north, in preparation for future operations on this front.

Earlier, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, General Herzi Halevy, said that "the possibility of war breaking out in the coming months in the north of the country is today much higher than it was in the past."

Continuous escalation

Yesterday, Sunday, Hezbollah announced the killing of two of its members in clashes with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, bringing its death toll to 179 since last October 8.

Mutual bombardment continued between Hezbollah and the occupation forces. The party said - in a statement - “We targeted two buildings in the Al-Manara colony with appropriate weapons, and achieved a direct hit,” and “Al-Marj site was targeted with appropriate weapons, and achieved a direct hit,” without any reports of losses.

The party also confirmed that it had targeted with missiles the Ruwaisat al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, and had also targeted enemy soldiers south of the al-Abad site with appropriate weapons, and stated that it had achieved a direct hit.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that missiles were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israeli positions in the Galilee Finger, the Shebaa Farms, and the occupied Kfar Shuba hills.

The correspondent also stated that missiles were launched from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli Zibdin barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported that Israeli fighters, in return, launched a raid on the town of Mays al-Jabal, and an Israeli drone targeted the town of Blida with missiles.

Before that, Israeli fighters targeted the towns of Al-Taybeh, Aita Al-Shaab, Yaroun, Umm Al-Tut, and the Jabal Balat area.

In conjunction with Israel's war on Gaza, since last October 8, the southern Lebanese border has witnessed tension and an exchange of bombing between Hezbollah and Palestinian factions on the one hand and the occupation army on the other, which led to deaths and injuries on both sides of the border.

The devastating Israeli war on Gaza left 27,365 martyrs and 66,630 injured, most of them children and women, and caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies