The Israel Protection Drive (IDF) has met little resistance since saying its “restricted” invasion of southern Lebanon early Tuesday morning native time, a transfer aimed to subvert Hezbollah’s buildup alongside the shared border.
Israel has been increasing its strikes for weeks in opposition to the terrorist group in southern Lebanon, in addition to with focused strikes in Beirut.
On Tuesday, the IDF confirmed in a press release shared with Fox Information Digital that for the reason that Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assaults in Israel – after which Hezbollah started putting navy posts alongside Israel’s northern border – the IDF has carried out dozens of “focused operations” to “dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities” that pose a risk to civilians within the north.
Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Picture/Leo Correa)
ISRAELI MINISTERS FRUSTRATED OVER US, IDF LEAK ON LEBANON OPERATION: REPORT
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari mentioned Tuesday that IDF particular forces have entered Hezbollah compounds in “dozens of places” alongside the Israel-Lebanon border, collected intelligence and dismantled positional strongholds.
“Our troopers entered Hezbollah’s underground infrastructures, uncovered Hezbollah’s hidden weapon caches, and seized and destroyed the weapons, together with superior Iranian-made weapons,” Hagari mentioned. “General, IDF troopers uncovered and dismantled over 700 Hezbollah terror belongings throughout these operations. And there is much more work to do.”
Because the struggle started practically a yr in the past, Israeli particular forces reportedly started conducting small raids in southern Lebanon, in some instances utilizing the very tunnels Israel seized from the terrorist group years prior, and renewed consideration has been delivered to how the Hezbollah community operates.
The terrorist group for years has relied on its heavy entanglement in civilian life, significantly in southern Lebanon, the place it has rented civilian infrastructure to function weapons depots and even missile launcher websites. Civilian buildings have additionally been used to cowl entrances to the group’s refined tunnel community that’s estimated to stretch over 100 miles in size cumulatively throughout the area.
The Israeli military exhibits the inside of a tunnel on the Israeli facet of the border with Lebanon in northern Israel on June 3, 2019. (Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
However regardless of the feared all-out war that had the potential to erupt upon Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbor, Hezbollah’s resistance has been minimal.
Safety consultants feared Hezbollah’s longtime backing from Iran would allow it to levy as many as 8,000 rockets per day in a worse case state of affairs, and its greater than 50,000 operatives, together with the elite Radwan forces, may pose a major risk in opposition to an Israeli floor marketing campaign.
Hagari confirmed to reporters Tuesday that IDF forces had been actively working to dismantle Radwan infrastructure close to the border in southern Lebanon.
“We have to care for it as a result of we won’t let one other seventh of October happen subsequent to our border,” he mentioned.
Within the aftermath of the Oct. 7 assaults, the IDF assessed that some 2,400 Radwan terrorists, together with one other 500 Palestinian Jihadists educated by the elite drive, had been positioned in villages throughout southern Lebanon poised to assault.
However the IDF on Tuesday additionally highlighted that Hezbollah didn’t mount a counter drive in response to Israel’s incursion.
Israeli artillery troopers are surrounded by smoke and dirt as they fireplace throughout the border into southern Lebanon from a place on the frontier in Zaura, northern Israel, on July 12, 2006. (AP Picture/Oded Balilty, File)
Jonathan Conricus, former IDF spokesperson and present senior fellow for the Basis for Protection of Democracies (FDD), instructed Fox Information Digital that Hezbollah’s near-complete lack of a counter drive may very well be defined by a number of causes.
“The IDF carried out a whole lot of particular operations over the past months to map and analyze Hezbollah’s hostile infrastructure in civilian homes in southern Lebanon, in addition to focused aerial campaigns in opposition to Hezbollah personnel,” he mentioned. “Hezbollah terrorists sustained extreme casualties and began to flee from southern Lebanon.
“It stays unclear what number of Hezbollah militants stay within the south,” he added.
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An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile towards southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Picture/Leo Correa)
Given the unknown variety of terrorists who fled the south, most definitely to different strongholds in Beirut and in central Lebanon, reporters questioned the present IDF spokesman if this might imply that Israel might want to develop its operations north.
“We’re not going to Beirut,” Hagari instructed reporters, emphasizing Israel’s said purpose to return its residents to their northern houses. “We’re focusing within the space of these villages, the realm subsequent to [the] border. And we are going to do, on this space, what is important to dismantle and demolish Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”
Hagari wouldn’t present specifics on the operational timeline however mentioned Israel’s marketing campaign in Lebanon could be carried out in “days [to] weeks.”
