We’ve Killed 1,500 Hezbollah Terrorists; They Are Surrendering

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Helj Halevi visits southern Lebanon to review Israeli developments there, revealing that Israeli soldiers have killed an estimated 1,500 Hezbollah terrorists there. The IDF announced Friday.

The IDF said in a statement:

Chief of Staff Helj Halevi conducted a field visit this week with soldiers from the Golani Brigade and the 188th Brigade operating in southern Lebanon, and assessed the situation with the commander of the Northern Command and the Lebanese commander. Northern Corps, 36th Division Commander, and other commanders.

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The full text of the Chief of Staff's statement is attached. “We are determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as we can, annihilating their entire senior command level. Here the entire local command level has been taken out, and the command also handles everything in between. And this whole thing is getting smaller and smaller. There's been so much damage here that the entire chain of command is disappearing. Hezbollah is hiding casualties, and they're hiding dead commanders. estimate that around 1,500 Hezbollah operatives have been eliminated, but this is a conservative estimate, but we believe there are many more from a number of strikes, but we do not know. These are very important achievements. The fact that they are surrendering says something about the moral situation, something about the level of fighting, something about their confidence, and something about the qualities that you bring to the table. They understand that this is it, there's nothing to do, go back to the wall, and that's the next step. That's why this battle is so right and sends the right message. I think, more broadly, I don't think even Iran understands what's going on here with Hezbollah, which is the main force that he built and now. It's very important. And we are seeing every day that there will be very tough surprises for Hezbollah, and we will have surprises for you as well – and surprises will bring results, and the enemy's results. both to prevent it.”

Separately, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that Mahmoud Hamdan, commander of Hamas' Tel al-Sultan battalion, was “in charge of guarding Yahya Sinwar and supervising the six hostages killed in the area.” ) was announced to have been killed. He was previously, and mistakenly, believed to be dead, having been killed in Gaza “by the IDF during an encounter with IDF forces, approximately 200 meters from where Sinwar was eliminated.”