- Hezbollah's attack triggered the current Israel-Lebanon escalation Brigadier General Effie Defrin said
- Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles from a Christian village in southern Lebanon
- Israel targets Iran's military capabilities not aiming for regime change
Brigadier General Effie Defrin, spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), told NDTV that Hezbollah's decision to resume fire roughly 10 days ago set off the current escalation, and that Israel had no intention of stopping.
"They opened fire, they knew the consequences, they knew the results, and we are hitting back and hitting back very hard," he said.
He gave an overview of the ground situation along the Lebanon border, Israeli strikes inside Iran, and the question of what Israel is trying to achieve. The war has entered Day 15.
On allegations that Israeli strikes had hit a Christian community in southern Lebanon, Brigadier General Defrin said Hezbollah operatives attempted to fire anti-tank missiles from within the village. A religious leader who tried to stop them was struck by Israeli counterfire.
"Even the Lebanese themselves, and even this Christian community is blaming Hezbollah, not Israel," Brigadier General Defrin said. "Because they understand Hezbollah is a threat to Lebanon."
He pointed to what he described as unprecedented calls within Lebanon, from the president, the prime minister, and the chief of defence, for direct talks with Israel. "We have no reason to have war with Lebanon," he said. "I really hope they join the Abraham Accords and we'll have a peace treaty with them soon, without Hezbollah."
On Iran, the IDF's stated objective stops short of regime change. "We as a military, we don't have any aim to remove any regime. We are acting to weaken and dismantle its military capabilities and the regime's capabilities to hurt or harm Israel."
The targets include ballistic missiles, the nuclear programme, Iranian air defence systems, and military production infrastructure, he said.
Brigadier General Defrin indicated that Iran and Hezbollah are not two separate threats. "It's the head of the octopus in Tehran and one of its arms, the biggest arm, is Hezbollah in Lebanon. You hit Iran, they are weakened in Lebanon."
Israel has no grievance against the people of Iran, he said. "We have nothing against civilians or against the Iranian people. We want to have peace with them in the future."
Brigadier General Defrin said over 70 per cent of Iranians oppose the current government, citing street demonstrations and footage of regime forces firing on protesters in Tehran. "You see the pictures and video clips of the regime's force on pickup trucks with machine guns, shooting freely at their own people. This is the nature of this regime."
Hezbollah is caught between Israeli pressure and a weakened patron, the IDF spokesperson said. "Hezbollah is panicking because it is losing its sponsor, financier and trainer, that is Iran."
Hezbollah's decision to strike Israel at this moment served no Lebanese interest, he said.
