The former commanding officer of the Israeli Navy, Vice Admiral (Res.) Eliezer Marom, predicts that in the coming weeks, the intense fighting in the south will come to a close, and troops will be moved to the northern front.
"We understand a few things; in the south, the intense fighting will end soon, two or three weeks, something like that," Marom told Galei Israel Radio.
He predicted that "in the beginning of July we'll be in the position that we could move to the north and declare the northern front as the primary one and the southern front as the secondary one. Then we'll find ourselves in a situation where we could start a war, since in my opinion, we won't be able to reach a deal without a war."
"Combat in the north is different," Marom said regarding a faceoff with Hezbollah in Lebanon. "It's not urban warfare, but rather combat in the field. In my opinion, the IDF has enough forces for it, but both sides will get hit hard in the war.
"The IDF's firepower is 100 times stronger than Hezbollah's, the IDF will destroy Lebanon. There's no point in starting a limited campaign in Lebanon, if we start a campaign that includes ground maneuvers that are deep enough, we'll have to attack targets in Beirut as well," he concluded.
This week the Northern Command Commander, Major General Uri Gordin, and the Head of the Operations Directorate, Major General Oded Basiuk, conducted a joint plans approval and situation assessment in the Northern Command.
As part of the situation assessment, operational plans for an attack in Lebanon were presented and approved, and decisions were made to further accelerate the preparations by ground forces.
במסגרת הערכת המצב, אושרו ותוקפו תוכניות אופרטיביות להתקפה בלבנון והתקבלו החלטות על המשך האצת המוכנות של הכוחות בשטח.