JERUSALEM, Israel – Time is running out for a diplomatic solution along Israel's northern border, as Hezbollah ramps up its attacks and Israel finds itself surrounded by enemies. Hezbollah pummeled northern Israel Wednesday in one of the largest single-day strikes since the current round of daily attacks began.
The strikes caused significant damage, but no casualties.
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz suggested time is running out.
“The situation on the northern border requires change," he declared. "The hourglass for a political arrangement is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government will not act to stop the firing on the northern settlements and keep Hezbollah away from the border, the IDF will do so.”
Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel, a UAV was identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory and was intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defence Array. https://t.co/WlJ0NSkmsx
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 28, 2023
About 80,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, and the nation faces more trouble: an armed drone from Iraq crashed on the Golan Heights Thursday morning, but caused no damage.
Hezbollah is one of the many Iranian-backed forces threatening Israel from all sides. The militias are also launching attacks against U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the region.
Iranian-based militants again attacked a base in Iraq this week where U.S. forces are located.
Meanwhile, an Iranian general stated that the October 7th Hamas attack and massacre of Israelis was revenge against the U.S. and Israel for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, in a 2020 U.S. drone strike in Iraq.
Hamas denied that was the case and said the October attack was an act of Palestinian resistance and fear concerning the fate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Former Kansas Governor and International Religious Freedom Ambassador Sam Brownback, here on a solidarity mission, told CBN News it's time the world points the finger at the source of Middle East trouble: Iran.
"I think we also have to clearly confront Iran," he said. "The source of this problem is Iran. That’s whose kind of getting off scot-free right now is Iran. Hamas wouldn’t have been armed. They wouldn’t have been supplied, if it hadn’t been for Iran. Hezbollah the same way. The Houthis that are attacking in the waterways – we've got to confront Iran."
In the meantime, fighting continues in Gaza, and the dying mother of one of the hostages, Noa Argamani, appealed to President Biden to press for the release of her daughter.
"I don’t know how long I have left," she said. "I wish for the chance to see my Noa at home."
Hamas is still holding more than 120 hostages. Here's a disturbing account from one of the hostages who was finally released:
Israeli hostage after being rescued from Gaza: “It is important for me to represent the real situation of the people living in Gaza, who they really are—everyone there is complicit and it’s like one big Hamas family.”
She was held by Palestinian civilians.pic.twitter.com/V29zmXQhfF— Marina Medvin (@MarinaMedvin) December 28, 2023
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