TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli military is preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, the Israeli army chief said Wednesday as Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel, including a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike yet.
Addressing troops on the northern border, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the latest Israeli airstrikes were designed to “prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”
In an apparent reference to the missile fired at Tel Aviv, he said: “Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves.”
In recent days, the Israeli military has said it had no immediate plans for a ground invasion. Halevi’s statement was the strongest yet suggesting troops could move in.
With hostilities intensifying, the Israeli military said Wednesday it would activate some reserve troops. The army’s announcement that it would call up two reserve brigades for missions in the north offered another sign that Israel plans tougher action.
Tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group have steadily escalated over the last 11 months. Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group. Israel has responded with increasingly heavy airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a wider operation.
Nearly a year of fighting had already displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border before the recent escalation.
Israel has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in the north, while Hezbollah has said it will keep up its rocket attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, something that appears increasingly remote.
To allow displaced Israelis to got back to their homes, “we are preparing the process of a maneuver,” Halevi said.
As tension spiraled, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel and Hezbollah to step back, saying all-out war would be disastrous for the region and its people.
In New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly, Blinken said the U.S. was working on a plan to de-escalate tensions and allow Israelis and Lebanese to return to their homes in border areas.
“The best way to get that is not through war, not through escalation,” but through a diplomatic agreement, he said in an interview with CBS News.
U.S. officials say they are floating ideas but have not been specific. Some of those ideas may be discussed at a special U.N. Security Council meeting on Lebanon that France called for later Wednesday.
Lebanon’s health minister said more than 50 people were killed Wednesday in the continuing Israeli strikes, raising the death toll from the past three days to 615, with more than 2,000 wounded.
This week has been the deadliest in Lebanon since the bruising 2006 monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah.
