Netanyahu warns ‘this is not the end’ after significant missile exchange with Hezbollah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned on Sunday that the weekend’s preemptive attack on Hezbollah and the subsequent missile retaliation from the Lebanese terror group is only the beginning of an ongoing conflict.

Netanyahu revealed that Israeli intelligence had uncovered Hezbollah’s plan to launch a significant barrage of rockets and drones against Israel. In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) executed a substantial preemptive strike early Sunday, targeting and destroying 6,000 pieces of artillery in Lebanon.

Hundreds of airborne Hezbollah rockets and drones were taken out by the Israeli military Sunday. AFP via Getty Images

“We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful, preemptive strike to eliminate the threat,” Netanyahu stated. “The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, all aimed at harming our citizens and our forces in the Galilee.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Sunday’s barrage between Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Israel was just the beginning of a new phase of conflict between both sides. Getty Images

Following Israel’s assault, Hezbollah launched 320 Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, striking 11 military targets and killing 21-year-old Navy soldier David Moshe Ben Shitrit. Despite claims from both Israeli and Hezbollah officials that this conflict is not intended to escalate into an all-out war, both sides acknowledged that this is merely the beginning of their hostilities.

An Israeli Air Force fighter jet fires a missile to intercept a Hezbollah projectile. AFP via Getty Images

“This is not the end of the story,” Netanyahu declared. Hezbollah echoed this sentiment, describing the attack as just the “first phase” of its retaliation for the recent assassination of high-ranking commander Fuad Shukr by Israel.

A rapid-response-team member surveys damage from Hezbollah’s attack in northern Israel. REUTERS

In contrast to Netanyahu’s assertion that Hezbollah planned to fire thousands of explosives, a senior Israeli defence official admitted to Fox’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst that this number was likely overstated. The official estimated that only about two-thirds of the munitions destroyed were intended for Sunday’s attack. Former IDF intelligence chief Tamir Hayman also expressed doubts about the claim, suggesting that if Hezbollah had indeed intended such a large-scale attack, the response would have been more severe.

Hezbollah vowed that Sunday’s attack was just the first part of its revenge against Israel. Getty Images

Hezbollah has announced that its attacks for the day are over but warned that the full scale of its planned revenge would take time to unfold. The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, claimed that the attack had been postponed for nearly a month while the group awaited the outcome of cease-fire talks.

Hezbollah’s attack came after a preemptive Israeli strike allegedly took out 6,000 pieces of the terror group’s artillery in Lebanon. REUTERS

Since October 8, Hezbollah has increased its assaults on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, which launched a deadly attack on October 7, intensifying the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.

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