De-escalation efforts and implications: Israel's threats and Lebanon's stand

Report by Nada Andraos, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's recent remarks have been dismissed by informed sources familiar with Hezbollah's stance as empty threats, resembling the rhetoric adopted by Israel since October 9, following Hezbollah's engagement in confrontation with Israel.

These sources have refuted the reality of the southern front and the roadmap for confrontation, considering that "if the enemy takes any step, as Gallant said, it will face an appropriate response, whether before or after the ceasefire. The response to Baalbek's attack was seen in Meron. Therefore, any aggression, regardless of scale, will be met with a similar response."

The sources emphasized that whether Israel's escalation is mere intimidation or severe, "Hezbollah deals with Israel as an enemy, and the enemy betrays and kills. It has been and remains at the highest level of readiness to respond."

On the military level, politically and diplomatically, the same sources asserted that the United States has officially informed Lebanon that threats from Gallant and other Israeli leaders are insignificant and do not reflect the stance of the Israeli government but are part of internal marketing.

Diplomatic envoys emphasized de-escalation and the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 without conveying any official Israeli threats or warnings to Lebanon.

The atmosphere coincided with revelations by government sources to LBCI regarding the insistence of international envoys on de-escalation and implementing Resolution 1701 rather than conveying official Israeli threats to Lebanon.

Remarkably, this came after the visit of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, to government officials, following her visit to Israel, she emphasized the implementation of Resolution 1701 and called for calm and diplomatic solutions.