Katz Promises: We Will Seize the Opportunity to Strike Hezbollah and Make Him Pay the Price

SadaNews - Israeli Minister of Security, Israel Katz, stated that Israel will not back down against Hezbollah, but will seek to "seize the opportunity to strike him and demand a price from him," during a visit he made this morning, Monday, to the Northern Command of the Israeli army.

Katz said during the field tour, which included Northern Command Chief Rafi Milo and other military formation leaders, that Israel "will not be satisfied with merely not retreating before Hezbollah," adding: "From this point, we must certainly not withdraw before Hezbollah, but take the opportunity to strike him."

He added: "We are hitting him and will continue to hit him. You must prepare operational plans to strike him, demand prices from him, and thwart his capabilities." He noted that the data presented to him during the visit indicate that about 650,000 Lebanese have fled from the southern suburbs of Beirut, in addition to about half a million from southern Lebanon, considering that this "demonstrates the strength of the Israeli army and its deterrent capability."

Katz also spoke about the assassination of what the statement referred to as the commander of Hezbollah's "Nasr" unit, Abu Hussein Ragheb, during an operation carried out by the Israeli army last night, saying: "The decision to move immediately to protect the towns is a morally and operationally correct decision, and it gives the residents a sense of security that what happened before will not be repeated."

He continued saying: "There is no evacuation or leaving homes, every person stays on their land and in their home wherever they are," adding that the main mission is to "protect the towns and prevent infiltration and anti-tank missile launches."

He also stated that "the fact that one million Lebanese have been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs indicates the strength of the Israeli army and its deterrent capability." He called to "exploit this data to thwart threats that have not been thwarted before, and to make the area safer than it was before the 'Lion's Roar' operation."

In the context of his remarks about Lebanon, Katz said that "the Lebanese government is not the United Nations," adding that it "has taken responsibility and signed agreements that it must adhere to." He added: "The Lebanese government committed to disarming Hezbollah, and it must work to implement that."

He claimed that Lebanon and the Lebanese army "have not fulfilled their obligations," adding that they "allowed Hezbollah to spread southward and did not prevent that." He continued: "The permanent conclusion is that what we do not do ourselves, no one else will do." Katz concluded his remarks by saying: "We have the opportunity to achieve very significant security."