Israel says it can send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age' as UN warns against escalation

Israel said it does not want war in Lebanon but could send its neighbor "back to the Stone Age", as the UN's humanitarian chief warned such a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic."

The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants ever since Israel's war on Gaza began on Oct. 7. 

Fears those exchanges could escalate into full-blown war have only grown in recent weeks as cross-border attacks intensified, and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Washington on Wednesday that his country could "take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don't want to do it."

"We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario," he told reporters. 

"Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched."

Israel's allies, including key defense backer the United States, have been keen to avoid such an eventuality. A U.S. official said Washington was engaged in "fairly intensive conversations" with Israel, Lebanon and other actors, and believed that no side sought a "major escalation."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gallant on Tuesday that another war with Hezbollah could have "terrible consequences for the Middle East," and urged a diplomatic solution.

Germany on Wednesday, echoing a Canadian warning from the day before, "urgently requested" its citizens in Lebanon leave the country.

"The current heightened tensions in the border area with Israel could escalate further at any time," updated foreign ministry advice in Berlin said.

UN humanitarian coordinator Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday that Lebanon was "the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints."

"It's beyond planning. It's potentially apocalyptic," warned Griffiths, whose term ends this week.

A war involving Lebanon "will draw in Syria... it will draw in others," he added. "It's very alarming."

Lebanon's national news agency reported about 10 Israeli strikes on areas near the border on Wednesday, including one around 10 p.m. that destroyed a building in Nabatiyeh, wounding at least seven people, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the area.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed six attacks against Israeli military positions in the border region.

Relative calm

U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken have voiced hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could lead to a reduction in hostilities on the Lebanese border as well.

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, witnesses reported bombings in areas around the Gaza Strip, and fighting had raged earlier Wednesday between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.

The civil defense agency and medics said at least four people, including three children, were killed in a strike Wednesday on a house in Beit Lahia, in the north.

However, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP "There have been almost no attacks" and "the rest of the areas in the Gaza Strip are calm compared to yesterday."