Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Opposition leader Benny Gantz, head of the Blue and White Party, to the prime minister’s office on Monday for a briefing on the current security situation.
Gantz was briefed by the prime minister’s military secretary and the head of the National Security Council, a sign that tensions on Israel’s northern and southern border are indeed escalating, and that the prospect that a war could break out is growing more likely.
Also on Monday, Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said what he called the “Israeli drone attacks” on the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut and in the Qusaya region a “declaration of war.” Aoun added that such an action entitles Lebanon to “resort to our right to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.”
Netanyahu warned in response during a tour of the Golan Heights with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, “We won’t tolerate attacks on Israel from any country in the area. Any country that allows its territory to be used for attacks against Israel will bear the consequences.