Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant threatened to return Lebanon to the Stone Age, if Hezbollah made a mistake and attacked Israel.
During his visit to the Northern Command of the Israeli army, Gallant stated, in the framework of the “crushing fist” exercise: “Our enemies speak with pride about the development of their weapons. For any such development, we have a better response, by air, sea, land, and by other offensive and defensive means.”
This came a day after the head of Israeli military intelligence, Haron Halifa, warned that Nasrallah might miscalculate his understanding of Israel and accidentally drag the two sides into a larger conflict.
Halifa pointed to Hezbollah’s recent audacity to carry out a bombing attack in Megiddo inside Israel.
Some saw that Hezbollah’s move showed that it was ready to pressure the Jewish state more than it was in the past.
In early April, Hezbollah also allowed some Palestinian groups to fire rockets into Israel from areas it controls.
All of this was in context. In general, since the end of the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah has tried a variety of ways to show that it is still in conflict with Israel.
