Israel maintains “complete operational freedom” to act against Hezbollah threats despite having agreed to a ceasefire, said Bezalel Smotrich, the country’s finance minister.
“Israel will not wait for any mechanism [de vigilância] and will continue to maintain full operational freedom to thwart any threat or attempt by Hezbollah to restore its capabilities and endanger northern residents,” the minister wrote in X this Sunday (1st).
Smotrich responded to a report by the Israeli channel Ynet, which cited French officials as saying that France had accused Israel of 52 alleged ceasefire violations resulting in the deaths of three Lebanese civilians.
He stated that it was important that “both the French and the Lebanese” clearly understood his message.
According to the report, France alleged that Israel misled the international committee tasked with monitoring compliance with the agreement.
The ceasefire monitoring mechanism is led by the United States and involves the Lebanese Army, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the UN and France.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-backed proposal earlier this week, ending for now the 13-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has escalated into an all-out war.
Since then, Israel has carried out several attacks in southern Lebanon, with both sides accusing each other of violating the suspension of hostilities.
THE CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces and is awaiting feedback.
Understand conflicts in the Middle East
At the end of November, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was approved. This comes after months of bombings by the Israeli Army in Lebanon.
The offensive caused destruction and forced more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. Furthermore, it left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
The expectation is that the agreement will serve as the basis for a more lasting cessation of hostilities.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during Israel’s offensive, which also destroyed virtually every building in the Palestinian territory.
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
*Oren Liebermann, from CNN, contributed to this report
This content was originally published in Israel maintains “complete operational freedom” to act against Hezbollah, says minister on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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