Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed on Thursday the need to prepare for the deterioration of security along the border with Lebanon.
He added however, that Israel prefers to resolve the situation through a political settlement that allows residents of the North to return home after calm is restored.
Israel would rather reach a political settlement that allows the residents to return home, rather than return them through military means, he added as he toured the northern border.
On Thursday, Israel struck the predominantly Druze town of Kawkaba for the first time since the eruption of the war in October.
Israel has been gradually escalating its attacks and is now relying on intensifying air surveillance through drones.
Residents of southern Lebanon posted photos on social media of swarms of up to five drones flying overhead.
Drones were seen on Wednesday after they struck a Hamas group in the Qlaia region near Tyre city.
Military experts said such tactics are aimed at closely following fighters on the field. They also allow attacks on Hezbollah air defenses. They explained that when an air defense shoots down one drone, its location becomes exposed, allowing another drone in the swarm to shoot and destroy it.
Residents of southern Lebanon have said Israeli drones are ever present in the sky and that the majority of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war were targeted in drone attacks.
The Israeli army said its jets struck Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure” in the town of Adeisseh. It also hit the towns of Kfar Kila and Marjeyoun and that two artillery strikes were fired from Lebanon towards the area of Arab al-Aramsheh where they struck open land.
