Israeli army to focus on Hezbollah: Israeli PM

By Esat Firat

JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday said that he didn't want to see a war erupting in West Bank and Gaza Strip as the army had launched an operation against Hezbollah and Iran.

According to Yediot Ahronot daily, during his meeting with the ministers of Likud Party, Netanyahu said that he didn’t favor opening a front against Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

"The army is working to discover and destroy Hezbollah's tunnels that pose a great threat in northern borders," the Israeli premier said.

Netanyahu went on to say that Israel was also striving for removing Iran from Syria and destroy Hezbollah's guided missiles, adding that Israel put diplomatic effort to intensify the Iranian embargo and condemn Hezbollah at international level.

He said that the current conditions prompted Israel not to open another front with the Palestinians.

"However, we are ready for this if we have to. We could launch a military campaign against Gaza, much bigger than anticipated. We put the time to good use; security cabinet has all the details," he added.

Netanyahu also touched on the issue of the second tunnel allegedly found by the Israeli army on Saturday. He said that the tunnel stretched from the Lebanese border to Israeli regions and would be used for attacks.

In a written statement by the Israeli army on Sunday, it was alleged that a new Hezbollah tunnel was found out within the frame of "Operation Northern Shield" ongoing near the Lebanese borderline, which was launched on December 4.

The same day, the Israeli army's press office published the image of a tunnel allegedly built by Hezbollah to infiltrate into Israel. The army statement read that the tunnel was some 200 meters long, 40 of which was under Israeli soil.

Hezbollah, for its part, is yet to make a statement on the Israeli operation or tunnel allegations.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced following investigations that a tunnel by Israel-Lebanon borders was detected.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this story from Ankara