The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday night (18/6) that they had approved operational plans for an attack on Lebanon as Israel and Lebanon’s Islamist movement Hezbollah stepped up rhetoric that could escalate into war, and increased between them cross-border conflicts.

In the framework of the “situation assessment”, which took place today in the presence of Lt. Gen. Ori Gordin, commander of the Northern military region and the head of the operations directorate, Lt. Gen. Oded Basiuk, “operational plans for an attack on Lebanon were approved and ratified and decisions were made on continuing to increase the readiness of troops in the field,” the IDF announced.

In Washington, the Pentagon announced that the United States does not want to see a wider regional war in the Middle East. “I’m not going to get into assumptions and speculate about what might happen, only to say that nobody wants to see a wider regional war,” Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder told reporters when asked about it.

The Israeli military’s announcement comes amid a visit to the region by US President Joe Biden’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein, aimed at reducing tension on the Israel-Lebanon border, where near-daily clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah after on October 7th they have been getting worse for a week.

“We are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be hit hard,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said earlier today.