Israel has begun its invasion of southern Lebanon as the IDF announced early Tuesday that troops were carrying out “limited” raids aimed at wiping out Hezbollah outposts — the latest stage of the Jewish state’s offensive against the Iran-backed terrorist group.
The boots-on-the-ground operation will see Israeli soldiers take out Hezbollah’s tunnels, rocket launchers and weapons caches along the southern border, all in an attempt to halt the US-designated terror group’s ability to launch daily attacks over the border, Israeli officials have said.
The widely expected ground incursion came after Israel mobilized its tanks and troops, and secured a wide stretch of the northern border on Monday.
“In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, a few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in its statement announcing the ground operation.
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the IDF statement said.
The IDF also deployed air force and artillery units to support troops on the ground.
“These operations were approved and carried out in accordance with the decision of the political echelon,” the IDF added.
Just before the operation began, the Lebanese army withdrew, according to reports — leaving the already-battered Hezbollah alone to face the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel said the primary goal of its operations against Hezbollah is to halt the daily rocket and missile attacks on towns and villages in the north of the Jewish state — and allow tens of thousands of displaced residents to return home.
The US was allegedly made aware of the plan just hours before it began, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Monday afternoon that he was opposed to further escalation in the region.
“I’m more aware than you might know,” Biden said of the looming incursion, “and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now.”
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US is being briefed on the incursion as it advises Israel to avoid “miscalculations” and “unintended consequences.”
“They have at this time, told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but we’re in continuous conversations about it,” he said of the evolving situation.
But after Israeli troops rolled into Lebanon, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he spoke to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and told him he supported the Jewish state’s right to protect itself.
“I made it clear that the United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself,” Austin said in a statement. “We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hizballah cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel’s northern communities.”
Biden and Miller’s concerns were echoed by several foreign ministers in the European Union, who backed the American president’s call for a cease-fire through diplomacy.
Israel, however, has maintained that a policy of “de-escalation through escalation” is the only way to end Hezbollah’s daily attacks on northern Israel.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire on a near daily basis for almost a year — displacing tens of thousands of both Israeli and Lebanese people who live on either side of the border since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Hezbollah has pledged to continue its rocket attacks on Israel until there is a cease-fire in the war that has decimated Gaza.
Around 10 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel Tuesday soon after the IDF launched its ground offensive. Some were intercepted by the IDF while others fell into “open areas,” the Israeli military said.
No direct combat between IDF troops on the ground in Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters has been reported as of early Tuesday.
However, explosions from Israeli strikes lit up southern Lebanon. An overcrowded Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon was struck by one of the strikes, according to Lebanese media. The strike reportedly targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
Soon after the IDF announced its ground operations in Lebanon, additional airstrikes were reported in Syria in its capital city of Damascus, where a Syrian news anchor, Safaa Ahmed, was allegedly killed by an Israeli strike, state media there said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s latest operation was part of a new phase to end the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah.
“It will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important part of the war’s goals, returning the residents to their homes,” Gallant said in a statement.
The ground invasion follows weeks of significant Israeli hits on Hezbollah — including an airstrike that killed the group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and a complex exploding pager operative that took out Hezbollah’s internal communication system. Israel has not taken responsibility for the pager attack, but is widely believed to be behind it.
With Post wires
