Israel has begun a ground offensive in Lebanon, intensifying its campaign against Hizbollah after launching devastating airstrikes against the Lebanese militant group.
The Israeli military said in the early hours of Tuesday that it had begun “limited, localized and targeted ground attacks” against Hizbollah in the south. Lebanon.
However, in a sign that they were preparing for a possible escalation, they added later in the day that they were mobilizing four more reserve brigades “for operational missions in the northern arena.” . . . against the terrorist organization Hizbollah”.
The Israel Defense Forces has ordered the evacuation of nearly 30 villages and towns in the south of the country, repeating orders given before major attacks in Gaza throughout the past year.
Hizbollah said claims that Israeli forces had entered Lebanon were “false” and that no direct clashes on the ground had occurred.
“Resistance fighters are ready to directly confront hostile forces that dare to try to enter Lebanese territory,” the group said, adding that firing missiles at Tel Aviv “was just initial step”.
The IDF has asked residents to stay north of the Awali River, which is 60 kilometers from the border with Israel and away from most of the villages mentioned in the evacuation order.
Previously, the country warned people north of the Litani River, up to 30 km from the border and marking the northern edge of the buffer zone designated by the United Nations and monitored by peacekeeping forces.
Referring to United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 18 years ago, which sought to establish a buffer zone and called on both Hizbollah and Israeli forces to leave the area, Daniel Hagari, military spokesman for the Israel, said: “The State of Israel has the right and the obligation to do what 1701 failed to do.”
He added that over the past 12 months, Israeli special forces have conducted dozens of cross-border operations in Lebanon, during which they destroyed Hizbollah infrastructure, weapons and tunnels.
Israel launched the offensive despite repeated calls for a ceasefire from its Western allies.
The Lebanese army condemned what it described as “increasingly brutal attacks” by Israel. They added that they were coordinating with UN peacekeepers and had “repositioned” some forward observation posts away from the border.
People in the vicinity of the border said they heard heavy artillery during the night.
However, while the IDF previously said that “intense fighting” was taking place, an Israeli security official said Tuesday morning that Israeli forces had not yet engaged Hizbollah militants.
The Israeli military said forces from just one division – possibly numbering between 7,500 and 10,000 soldiers – have so far participated in the ground offensive. The official declined to provide specifics but added: “This is not it. . . “a massive ground invasion,” contrasting the scale of the campaign with the number of Israeli troops in Gaza.
United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon described the attack as a “dangerous development,” adding that they had received notification from Israel a day earlier.
The scale of the Israeli attack is unclear. But there are concerns that it could lead to an unrestricted occupation of the border area – a fear that is widespread in Lebanon, where the south has been occupied by Israeli forces for 18 years.
This attack was Israel’s first on the ground Hizbollah since 2006 when a 34-day war with the Iran-backed group ended in a stalemate. It marks a further escalation of the conflict that has engulfed the region since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
It follows a two-week escalation of hostilities, in which Israel assassinate Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, destroyed his chain of command and launched an overwhelming bombing campaign that killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 1 million.
Lebanese state media reported that Israel attacked at least two buildings in southern Beirut on Tuesday, adding that ambulances were called to the scene.
One of the attacks occurred near the Kuwait embassy, with thick clouds of smoke visible across the Bir Hassan and Jnah neighborhoods, which lie outside Hizbollah’s stronghold.
The IDF said shortly afterward that it had “conducted a precision strike” on the Lebanese capital.
Amid escalating violence, several European countries began withdrawing diplomats and citizens from Lebanon.
At least 95 people have died in the past 24 hours following Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s south, northeast and Beirut, the Health Ministry said. Lebanese media reported that Israel also for the first time attacked a building in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country.
Israeli forces and Hizbollah began exchanging fire last year when Iran-backed militants launched rockets in support of Hamas the day after an October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group.
In the following months, the exchanges displaced 60,000 people on the Israeli side of the border. Israeli forces have been attacking southern Lebanon, controlled by Hizbollah, for months, causing extensive damage and forcing more than 110,000 Lebanese to flee the area.
For most of that time, the fighting took place within a limited strip of land on both sides of the border. But as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza intensifies, its military has shifted its focus to confronting Hizbollah, as well as stepping up attacks on other Iranian proxies elsewhere in the region. area.
The escalation in the region has been accompanied by an increase in Israeli rhetoric, as officials talk about “defeating” Hizbollah and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week pledged to “change the balance of power in the region for many years.” year”.
Despite the damage to Hizbollah from Israeli attacks, the Israeli military risks being drawn into a protracted war in the militant group’s backyard, eroding some of Israel’s military technical superiority. .
The region’s most heavily armed non-state organization, believed to have tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and a huge arsenal of rockets and missiles, has continued to launch hundreds of projectiles at Israel since Nasrallah was killed.
Hizbollah on Tuesday said its fighters fired artillery at the Israeli border town of Metula as well as several rounds of rockets and missiles at what it said were military targets.
Two people were injured after a rocket fell near a highway about 15km east of central Tel Aviv, local media reported.
The Israeli military said Tuesday afternoon that 30 rockets had been fired into the Upper and Western Galilee in the previous few hours, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The ground offensive comes a week after the US and its Western and Arab allies proposed a 21-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hizbollah conflict, warning of the risk of a war. broader regional picture. A US official said Israel had agreed to a ceasefire before changing its mind overnight when it saw an opportunity to assassinate Nasrallah.
Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova
