Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told the international session of the MUNI EXPO in Tel Aviv on Wednesday that Hezbollah has launched more than 7,000 rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon into Israel since March. He asked, "Which country can accept this and not act to restore security to its citizens?"
Sa’ar said Israel and Lebanon have no real dispute beyond a few border points that can be resolved quickly through negotiation. He said the two countries share a common enemy, Hezbollah, which he described as a threat to Lebanon’s future, sovereignty and independence, as well as to Israel’s security.
Speaking before governors and mayors from around the world, Sa’ar said the current talks with Lebanon are part of a new round of historic negotiations being held under U.S. mediation. He argued that the international media rarely notes that Hezbollah began the current war on March 2 after receiving instructions from Tehran.
Sa’ar also said Hezbollah started the war on October 8, 2023, one day after Hamas’s attack on Israel. He repeated that since March the group has fired more than 7,000 projectiles from Lebanese territory, framing the scale of the attacks as a test no state could be expected to absorb without responding.