Israel intensified its airstrikes against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday as the United States and Iran near a possible peace agreement.It remains to be seen whether such a deal ends the Israel-Hezbollah conflict through a strict ceasefire.A ceasefire has been in effect since last month, but both the Israeli military and Hezbollah have repeatedly exchanged blows in that time frame. This month, both Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend the ceasefire by another 45 days to allow space for peace talks. Israeli and Lebanese officials are meeting at the Pentagon on Friday to discuss the state of the ceasefire.
The intensified airstrikes come hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to uproot Hezbollah from Lebanon.
“We are at war with Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said in a video message, noting more than 600 militants have been eliminated so far.
“We are not taking our foot off the gas,” he added. “On the contrary, I said to step on the gas even more. We will strike them.”
On Monday, the Israeli military said over 70 Hezbollah infrastructure sites for launching munitions from Lebanon were destroyed. Additionally, about 10 command centers, weapons storage facilities, and infrastructure sites were struck, and Hezbollah militants using motorcycles were killed.
