Israeli southern Lebanon incursion plan 'could lead to tragic failure,' MKs tell Netanyahu

Three Israeli lawmakers, members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, warned the government against a land incursion into Lebanon based on the Israeli military's current plan, saying it could "result in a tragic failure," Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported.

The warning comes as fears of a wider Middle East war between Israel and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have been rekindled after Israeli attacks in Tehran and Beirut.

In a letter sent more than a month ago to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government, these parliamentarians wrote: "According to the information in our possession, the implementation of the operational plan drawn up by the Israeli army could lead to a tragic failure with unprecedented consequences. The security officials are deeply mistaken in their understanding of the enemy's strategy."

In the letter, the MPs stressed that they support a ground incursion into Lebanon, but believed that the current plan "will lead to a stalemate." According to the newspaper, they said that "the plan for Lebanon has not learned from the mistakes made during the operation in Gaza and that it is crucial to define the objective of the war as the destruction of Hezbollah's governmental and military capabilities, rather than simply pushing it away from the border." They added that "the planned action in southern Lebanon will not eliminate the threat of Hezbollah's fire capabilities, which are mostly deployed north of the Litani River and can reach Haifa, Tel Aviv, and even beyond."

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and backed by Iran, has been exchanging almost daily fire with the Israeli army along the Lebanese-Israeli border since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.