Netanyahu: Lebanon will be destroyed if Hezbollah launches war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated numerous warnings he had made against Hezbollah before the recent ceasefire with Hamas, telling the Lebanese Iran-backed group that Lebanon will be destroyed if it opens up a major war against Israel.

“We are acting in the north all the time against all efforts by Hezbollah to operate against us. We are eliminating terror cells, pushing them away from the border, destroying munitions. We will continue with strong deterrence in the north, and total victory in the south,” Netanyahu said.

“We will restore security to the north and the south. If Hezbollah makes a mistake and enters into a broad war it will have destroyed Lebanon with its own hands,” he warned.

Daily skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israel have renewed since the end of the Gaza ceasefire on Friday. Three Hezbollah members and a civilian have been killed in south Lebanon since then, raising Lebanon's death toll from the skirmishes that erupted on October 8 to more than 100.