Press TV- The Israeli minister of military affairs has renewed the threat of a new war against Lebanon, sayingBeirut would pay the full price for its ties with Tehran in such a military offensive.
Speaking at an event on Wednesday, Avider Lieberman accused Lebanon and the resistance movement Hezbollah of subjugating fully to Iran, warning that as a result, all of Lebanon will be fair game in a future war.
Lebanons army and Hezbollah are the same they will all pay the full price in the event of an escalation, Lieberman said, adding that If a conflict does break out in the north, boots on the ground remains an option.
If people in Tel Aviv will be in bomb shelters, all of Beirut will be in bomb shelters, Liberman said, referring to the 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon, during which dozens of Israelis were killed in retaliatory attacks along the northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah is Lebanons de facto military power, and has been fighting off, alongside the national army, recurrent acts of Israeli aggression against the homeland.
Lebanon has repeatedly praised Hezbollahs key role in the war against terrorism, with President Michel Aoun defending the resistance movements possession of arms as essential to Lebanons security.
Over the past months, Israeli officials have threatened another war on Lebanon.
Hezbollah has also been helping Syrias national army in its fight against terrorists to prevent the spillover of the crisis in the neighboring country into Lebanon.
Takfiri groups such as Daesh and al-Nusra have never attacked Israel despite operating close to Syrias borders with the occupied Palestinian territories over the past three years.
In April, Israels former minister of military affairs, Moshe Yaalon, admitted to a tacit alliance with Daesh, saying the Takfiri group had immediately apologized to Tel Aviv after firing once into Israel.
Israeli media reported in December that senior US and Israeli officials had secretly met in Washington to hammer out a deal on confronting Iran on several fronts.
The two sides reportedly agreed on forming joint teams to combat Iran in the Middle East region.
According to the report, one of the teams would try to curb Iran's influence in Syria and work to block Tehrans support for Hezbollah.
In November 2017, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said Saudi Arabia has appealed to the Israeli regime to launch a military onslaught against Lebanon in the name of fighting Hezbollah, and is ready to spend billions of dollars to attain this objective.
Saudi wants to destroy Lebanon under the pretext of combating Hezbollah. It was the main architect of Israels war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, he pointed out.
Last November, Hariri declared his surprise resignation from a location in Riyadh, fueling strong beliefs at home and abroad that he had been forced to quit by the Riyadh regime in an attempt to pressure Hezbollah.
Hariri, however, managed to get out of the kingdom amid international pressure on Riyadh. He rescinded his resignation after returning home.