The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have met with little resistance since announcing a “limited” invasion of southern Lebanon early Tuesday local time. The operation aims to defeat Hezbollah's growing influence along the shared border.
Israel has stepped up attacks against terrorist groups in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, and has also carried out targeted attacks in Beirut.
In a statement shared with FOX News Digital on Tuesday, the IDF said that since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel (after which Hezbollah launched attacks on military positions along Israel's northern border), the IDF has He admitted to carrying out dozens of “targeted operations.” The goal is to “dismantle Hezbollah's terrorist capabilities” that pose a threat to civilians in the north.
Smoke rises from Israeli military shelling in southern Lebanon, seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
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IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that IDF special forces had entered “dozens” of Hezbollah compounds along the Israel-Lebanon border, gathering intelligence and dismantling strongholds.
“Our soldiers penetrated Hezbollah's underground infrastructure, uncovered Hezbollah's hidden weapons cache, and seized and destroyed weapons, including advanced Iranian weapons,” Hagari said. “Overall, IDF soldiers exposed and dismantled more than 700 Hezbollah terrorist assets during these operations, and there is still much work to be done.”
Since the war began almost a year ago, Israeli special forces have reportedly begun carrying out small-scale raids in southern Lebanon, in some cases using the very tunnels that Israel had captured from terrorist groups years earlier. This has brought new attention to how Hezbollah's network operates.
The terrorist organization has long relied on heavy involvement in civilian life, particularly in southern Lebanon, where it rents civilian infrastructure as weapons depots and missile launch sites. Civilian buildings are also used to cover the entrances to the group's sophisticated tunnel network, estimated to extend over a cumulative length of 160 miles across the region.
Israeli troops show the inside of a tunnel on the Israeli side of the Lebanese border in northern Israel, June 3, 2019. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
But Hezbollah's resistance has been minimal, despite fears of an all-out war that could break out if Israel invades its northern neighbor.
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Security experts feared that Hezbollah's long-standing support from Iran would allow it to tax: 8,000 rockets are launched per day The worst-case scenario involves more than 50,000 operatives. Radwan's elite troopscould pose a significant threat to Israeli ground operations.
Hagari confirmed to reporters on Tuesday that IDF forces are actively working to dismantle Radwan infrastructure near Lebanon's southern border.
“We need to address this so we don't have another October 7th next to our border,” he said.
In the aftermath of the October 7 attack, the IDF said approximately 2,400 Radwan terrorists and another 500 Palestinian jihadists trained by elite forces were positioned in villages across southern Lebanon and prepared for attacks. It was evaluated as being successful.
But the IDF also stressed on Tuesday Hezbollah's failure to deploy counterattack forces to counter the Israeli invasion.
Israeli artillery soldiers are surrounded by smoke and dust as they fire from a remote position in Zaura, northern Israel, across the border into southern Lebanon on July 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Oded Barilty, File)
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesperson and current senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital that several reasons explain Hezbollah's almost complete lack of opposition. He said he could.
“The IDF has conducted hundreds of special operations in recent months to map and analyze Hezbollah's hostile infrastructure in civilian homes in southern Lebanon and to conduct targeted air operations against Hezbollah personnel,” he said. We carried out the operation,” he said. “Hezbollah terrorists have begun to flee southern Lebanon, inflicting serious casualties.
“It remains unclear how many Hezbollah militants remain in the south,” he added.
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An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile toward southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Given that the number of terrorists who fled the south is unknown, most likely to Beirut or other strongholds in central Lebanon, reporters told a current IDF spokesperson that this could lead to Israel expanding operations north. I asked if this meant that I needed to do so.
“We will not go to Beirut,” Hagari told reporters, underscoring Israel's stated goal of returning its people to their northern homes. “We are focusing on those village areas, the neighboring areas. [the] border. And we will do what is necessary in this area to dismantle and destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure.”
Hagari did not provide details about the operational schedule, but said the Israeli operation in Lebanon “will be carried out within the next few days.” [to] A few weeks. ”
