Israel threatens to bomb Lebanon into 'stone age' if Hezbollah starts war

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has threatened to bomb Hezbollah and Lebanon "into the stone age," if the Lebanese, Iran-backed group "makes a mistake" and "starts a war against Israel."

During a visit to the Israeli army’s northern command, he said: “I hear our enemies boasting about weapons they are developing. For any such development, we have an even better response -- by air, by sea and on land and through other means of attack and defense."

Gallant was visiting north Israel within the framework of the two-week-long “Firm Hand” military exercise. During the visit, Gallant held a situation assessment together with senior army officials.

Gallant reassured the Israelis that his visit and updates from the drill confirmed "that our troops are excellent.”

"We will know how to defend the citizens of Israel and how to strike our enemies with a decisive blow, heaven forbid, they initiate a war with us," he stated.

Commenting on recent Israeli threats, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had said that “the Israelis must retract their threats and give up their arrogance.”

“Any mistake might blow up the entire region,” he warned.

“I tell the enemy's premier, war minister and army chief to be careful and not to make wrong calculations,” Nasrallah added, noting that Israel resorted to escalating its rhetoric after the failure of its latest military campaign in Gaza.

“You are not the ones to threaten a grand war; we are the ones who rather threaten you with it,” Nasrallah went on to say.

“A grand war would involve hundreds of thousands of fighters,” he added, in a warning to Israel.