A senior Israeli military leader indicated to his troops that they would soon invade southern Lebanon in a dramatic escalation against Hezbollah, the terrorist group based there that has been attacking them for nearly a year.

Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi visited troops at the country’s northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday, and he told them, “The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north. To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory, and carry out attacks on Israeli citizens.”