Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Brigadier General Esmail Qaani issued a direct warning to ‘Israel’ on Thursday, advising the Zionist entity to withdraw from southern Lebanon immediately or face a future forced exit.
“Leave Lebanon today by your own free will,” Qaani said, adding that otherwise ‘Israel’ would be compelled to leave “tomorrow in shame and humiliating defeat.”
He described Lebanon as “a zone of resistance, not a place for occupiers,” and the 2000 liberation of southern Lebanon, when the Zionist forces were forced to withdraw.
Qaani added that similar outcomes would be repeated again, in remarks cited by Iranian media.
The comments come as military commanders say claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz of maintaining “absolute freedom of action” in southern Lebanon sharply contradict the reality on the ground.
Israeli military commanders say claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz of maintaining “absolute freedom of action” in southern Lebanon sharply contradict the reality on the ground, according to Israeli media reports on Wednesday.
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Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted commanders as saying that operational constraints and political ambiguity are increasingly shaping Israeli military activity in southern Lebanon.
Source: Iranian media (translated and edited by Al-Manar)