Netanyahu says 'changing balance of power' in north by targeting Hezbollah; Iran accuses Israel of seeking 'wider conflict'

As Israeli jets pound southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is operating to “change the balance of power in the north” by taking out Hezbollah missiles.

According to a Times of Israel report, speaking from the underground command room of the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said in a video statement, “For those who have not yet understood, I want to clarify Israel’s policy. We do not wait for a threat, we anticipate it. Everywhere, in every theater, at any time.”

Netanyahu said “whoever tries to hurt us, we hurt him even more” and therefore is eliminating senior Hezbollah officials, terrorists, and missile caches, with more to come.

“I promised that we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north. This is exactly what we are doing. We are destroying thousands of missiles and rockets aimed at Israeli cities and Israeli citizens.”

Netanyahu’s statement comes after he held a security assessment with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Air Force commander Tomer Bar, and Military Secretary Roman Gofman.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused Israel of seeking a wider conflict, which he said would not benefit anyone, as he insisted Tehran was not destabilising the region.

“We know more than anyone else that if a larger war were to erupt in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict,” AFP  quoted him as saying during a roundtable with journalists as he attended the UN General Assembly in New York.

He also sought talks with the West on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, as he denied providing missiles to Moscow which he condemned for “aggression.”

“We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory,” AFP quoted him as saying.

Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon killed 182 people on Monday, according to the Lebanese health ministry, in by far the deadliest cross-border escalation since war erupted in Gaza on October 7.

War began when Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the worst-ever attack on Israel, with Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups around the region drawn into the violence.

On Monday, Israel said it had hit more than 300 Hezbollah sites with dozens of strikes, while Hezbollah said it had targeted three sites in northern Israel.

With inputs from agencies