Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avichai Stern warned that he would block Highway 90 with his body to prevent residents from returning, if the threat posed by Hezbollah along the border was not dealt with, in an interview with KAN Reshet Bet radio on Monday.
“If necessary, I will lie down on Route 90, block the road, and not let the residents return to being sheep for the slaughter. We all expect and want to return home, but the Radwan force is sitting along the fence. This reality must change, if not, we will not be able to return,” said Stern.
Roads and towns near the Lebanese-Israeli border were closed to civilian traffic on Monday morning until further notice, due to escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
The affected cities and towns include Kiryat Shmona, Snir, Dan, Dafna, Maayan Baruch, Kfar Yuval, Sha’ar Yishuv, Kfar Giladi, Hagoshrim, Metulla, Beit Hillel, Misgav, Margaliot, Menara, Yiftah, Ramot Naftali, Dishon, Malkiya, Avivim, Yiron, Baram, and Dovev. Several roads in the area were also closed to civilian traffic until further notice, according to the Upper Galilee Regional Council.
The IDF said that it struck several targets belonging to Hezbollah on Sunday night and Monday morning, including military structure, terrorist infrastructure, and operational infrastructure.
On Sunday night, Lebanese media reported airstrikes in Ramyah, Marwahin, and Dhayra.
Additionally, on Monday Hezbollah announced that two of its members had been killed amid the exchanges of fire along the border, bringing the total number of Hezbollah terrorists killed since the beginning of the war to 126.
Hezbollah says attacks will continue until Gaza war ends
On Sunday, Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, insisted that Hezbollah would continue its attacks against Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.
“The war in the south is a reflection of the aggression against Gaza, and its continuation is linked to the continuation of the aggression against Gaza, and the escalation of the war in the south is linked to Israel’s performance,” said Qassem, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
“If Israel expands its aggression, we will fight back hard... We cannot submit, and no Israeli, American, or international threats will affect us,” added the Hezbollah deputy leader. “We have no discussion now with anyone about what the situation might be like after Israel’s war on Gaza. Stop the war and then you will get the appropriate answers at the right time.”
Qassem insisted that Hezbollah’s assault on northern Israel also served to “protect” Lebanon, claiming that Israel is “expansionist” and “wants everything.”
Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi demanded during Sunday mass that Lebanon act by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and stay neutral.
“In the context of the extension of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to southern Lebanon, in contravention of Security Council Resolution 1701, and the occurrence of Lebanese casualties, the demolition of homes, the destruction of orchards and forests, and the displacement of our people there, we reiterate the necessity of Lebanon returning to its positive stand of active neutrality in its message, as a land of convergence and dialogue, as a player with a role in resolving conflicts through peaceful means, and as a defender through diplomatic means of stolen rights in any Arab country, at the forefront of which are the rights of the Palestinian people to return to their land and establish their special state,” said Rahi, according to NNA.