Defense Minister Benny Gantz touring the Lebanese border area with IDF personnel. Photo: Defense Ministry

i24 News – Israel’s Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz paid a visit to the country’s Northern Command on Tuesday, saying “Hezbollah is making attempts to challenge us, but if it acts it will suffer serious consequences.”

The defense minister was accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff, Tomer Bar, the Commander of the Northern Command, Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram, and the Commander of the 91st Division, Brig.-Gen. Shlomi Binder.

“I am finishing a tour of the Northern Command, in the Lebanese sector. The Israeli army is prepared along the northern border and certainly organized in the Lebanese sector in the best possible way. We are aware of Hezbollah’s attempts to challenge us, we are ready for any threat,” Gantz explained.

“Iran is behind them; which continues both its regional activities, such as support for Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations, but also its efforts to reach an unauthorized military nuclear threshold,” he continued.

Last month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi on an official visit to France, told French President Emmanuel Macron that Lebanon had been “taken hostage” by the Hezbollah terrorist group.

“Hezbollah today has hundreds of thousands of missiles and rockets located in the heart of residential neighborhoods, deliberately aimed at harming Israeli citizens. The IDF will do everything to prevent this,” he said.