By Athena Papakosta

The statements of the head of the Israeli Armed Forces, Herji Halevi, on Wednesday afternoon are the latest – and clearest – signal that Israel is preparing for a ground invasion of Lebanon.

“Do you hear the jets above us? They are hitting all day”, he emphasized and reiterated that the goal is to return the Israeli displaced back to their homes, on the northern borders of the country. “To achieve this, we are preparing a maneuver process, which means that your military boots (…) will step on the enemy’s ground” he then pointed out.

Since the beginning of last week, when the Israel set as a military goal the return of approximately 60,000 Israeli displaced persons back to the north of the country, the Hezbollah it received unprecedented blows, such as the well-coordinated and deadly attacks on buzzers and portable radios as well as the sweeping Israeli airstrikes, due to which in three 24 hours more than 650 people – including children – have lost their lives.

But Israel’s goal has not yet been achieved. Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into Israeli territory and even went so far as to launch, on Wednesday, for the first time since the start of hostilities with Israel, even a rocket against Tel Aviv, a city located in the central sector of the country far from 200 kilometers away from the border with Lebanon.

Diplomacy in depth

The diplomatic background is on fire. The United States along with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the EU, Japan, Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have proposed a temporary ceasefire lasting 21 days between Israel and Hezbollah with the aim of immediate de-escalation.

As the same information stated, the Secretary of State of the United States, Anthony Blinken and other American officials have been working intensively for the last three days, within the framework of the work of the UN General Assembly in New York, in order to succeed in putting pressure on other countries to to support this proposal.

The American president, speaking to the American network ABC News, emphasized that: “a total war is very likely, but at the same time there is a possibility to resolve the conflicts in which Israel is involved. We have a role to play and we will.”

For his part, without commenting on the information about the initiative of his most loyal ally, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, emphasized on Wednesday afternoon, with a new taped message, that “we are hitting Hezbollah in ways that it cannot even imagine – we are doing it forcefully but also smartly,” reiterating that “we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes.”

Some analysts note that however extensive Israel’s airstrikes are, they are not enough to destroy or even weaken Hezbollah in the way that the Israeli leadership needs to achieve its new military objective.

Despite all this and despite diplomatic efforts aimed at avoiding a generalized war in the Middle East, the Israeli Armed Forces in the framework of the so-called operation “Northern Arrows” are recalling reserves and strengthening their forces on Israel’s northern border with two additional brigades.

In addition to Halevi’s warning, the positions of the Commander of Israel’s Northern Command, Lt. Gen. Ori Gordin, have also been preceded, according to which the Israeli armed forces have “entered a new phase” of their operations and should prepare for… action” .

Both the Israeli political leadership and the military want a victory. In a few days it will be one year since Hamas attacked Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip has reached a stalemate. Characteristically, as noted a few days ago in an analysis by the British BBC network on its website, the militants of the Islamic Palestinian organization are still emerging from the tunnels and the ruins of buildings in the Palestinian enclave, killing and injuring Israeli soldiers, while in their hands are still the hostages.

He points out that what is taking place in Lebanon is strongly reminiscent of Israel’s story a year ago. He again issued warnings to civilians to evacuate their homes quickly while accusing Hezbollah – like Hamas – of using civilians as human shields.

As for achieving the goal of destroying Hezbollah, the BBC explains that the case for the Iranian-backed Shiite group to collapse, withdraw from its borders and stop attacking Israeli soil looks more like a risk since many observers believe that it won’t stop. As they explain, the main reason for its existence is the battle against Israel.