‘Not the end of the story’: Israel's Netanyahu vows to strike Hezbollah with crushing blows

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attacks on Israel are “not the end of the story” after Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes on dozens of targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday to thwart what Israel described as Hezbollah’s preparations for a significant assault.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah on Sunday said it had begun an attack on Israel with a large number of drones and rockets as retaliation for the killing of its top commander in a Beirut suburb last month. Despite these intense exchanges—the heaviest between the two sides in months—both Israel and Hezbollah later signalled a willingness to de-escalate the situation.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had successfully intercepted Hezbollah’s attack but warned that “today’s events are not the final word.” “We are and will be striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows,” various media reports quoted him as saying. The Israeli military confirmed that it continued to conduct airstrikes on Hezbollah targets.

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Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned America’s top general during a meeting on Sunday of the dangers of a major conflict in Lebanon.

U.S. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Egypt hours after a significant missile exchange between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.

In a statement, Sisi’s office said the Egyptian leader told Brown that the international community needed to “exert all efforts and intensify pressures to defuse tension and stop the state of escalation that threatens the security and stability of the entire region.”

“(Sisi warned) in this regard of the dangers of opening a new front in Lebanon, and stressing the need to preserve Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty,” the statement read.

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According to reports, three deaths were confirmed in Lebanon and none in Israel, where damage appeared to be limited. Hezbollah indicated it was not planning further strikes yet. Israel’s foreign minister said the country did not seek a full-scale war.

Any major escalation in the fighting, which began in parallel with the war in Gaza, risks morphing into a regional conflagration drawing in Hezbollah’s backer Iran and Israel’s main ally the United States.

Sunday’s strikes came as negotiators were meeting in Cairo in a last-ditch effort to conclude a halt to the fighting in Gaza.