Israeli media has reported that residents of Kiryat Shmona and local authority leaders in northern Israel accused Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the head of the Northern Command of abandoning Israeli soldiers in the confrontation with Hezbollah.
In remarks carried by Israeli media, the local leaders addressed army commanders, saying: “We urge you to resign immediately. We do not know how to protect our soldiers and the north under these conditions,” referring to the continuing Hezbollah attacks that they said had caused heavy Israeli losses.
Heads of local authorities and settlement councils in northern Israel also expressed growing concern over the emerging understandings between the United States and Iran, warning of their impact on the confrontation with Hezbollah along the Lebanese front.
They accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of abandoning northern settlers and leaving them “hostages to American interests”.
The local leaders added: “We have once again been left to our fate, and the government has disappeared.”
According to Israeli media reports, mayors and local council heads said they had received no official update from the government regarding the nature of the reported agreement between Washington and Tehran or its possible implications for the security situation in the north.
They said they learned about the understandings through media reports and US leaks rather than from the Israeli government.
