Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel is working to establish buffer zones and security barriers on its borders with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Gaza Strip, adding that Israel is ready to launch a preemptive strike on Iran without US assistance. Lebanese analyses treated these statements as a raising of the confrontation ceiling ahead of the Israeli elections.
One source focused on the announcement of buffer zones along five borders along with a new threat to Tehran, another led with readiness for a preemptive strike on Iran, toppling the Tehran regime and targeting Hamas and Hezbollah capabilities, while a third read the statements as raising the confrontation ceiling before the elections with buffer zones lacking clear boundaries.