This Wednesday, October 2, Hezbollah claimed to be fighting Israeli forces “infiltrated” in the border village of Maroun al-Ras, in southern Lebanon. A little earlier in the day, the Islamist movement had claimed, in a press release, to have confronted “an infantry force of the Israeli enemy which was trying to infiltrate the village of Adaysseh”, saying then that it had forced it to withdraw. The pro-Iranian movement also claimed to have targeted “a large Israeli infantry force” with rockets and artillery in Misgav Am, in northern Israel. Other troops were reportedly pushed back to three other areas in Israel along the border.
For its part, the Lebanese army announced that Israeli soldiers had carried out a brief incursion on Wednesday in two points in southern Lebanon. “An Israeli enemy force crossed the Blue Line (separating the two countries, editor’s note) over a distance of approximately 400 meters into Lebanese territory (…)” in two sectors, “before withdrawing.” indicated this source on X.
“Limited, localized and targeted” operations
A few hours before Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel, the Israeli army announced Tuesday morning the launch of “limited, localized and targeted” ground operations in southern Lebanon, where the IDF says it wants to destroy the capabilities of Hezbollah. Without revealing the number of soldiers involved in the offensive, the Israeli army indicated that its 98th division, including paratroopers and commando units, was participating. This division had already been deployed in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army is continuing its operations against Hamas fighters in parallel. The Israeli army said it was operating on the basis of “precise intelligence” targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. “These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” she said.
But the announcement of these ground operations was initially immediately denied by Hezbollah, which assured Tuesday that “all Zionist assertions according to which the occupying forces have entered Lebanon are false”: “There is no “had a direct confrontation on the ground” with Israeli troops, the head of the Islamist movement’s information department added to the Al-Jazeera channel.
“There is no land incursion at the moment,” confirmed Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) deployed along the Blue Line which marks the border between Israel and Lebanon. .
An evacuation order issued to the population
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed his opposition to any Israeli “ground invasion” of Lebanon. President Joe Biden, for his part, suggested that he was opposed to ground operations. From eight o’clock this Wednesday morning, however, an evacuation order addressed to the inhabitants of dozens of villages in southern Lebanon was broadcast on the networks of Israel’s Arabic-speaking spokesperson. “For your safety, you must immediately evacuate your homes and head towards the north of the Awali River,” Avichay Adraee wrote to these Lebanese, urging them to “immediately evacuate” their homes, and specifying that “all house used by Hezbollah for its military needs should be targeted.”
In the process, an official statement from the Israeli army detailed the deployment of new ground units in the area. “The 36th Division, including soldiers from the Golani Brigade, 188th Armored Brigade, 6th Infantry Brigade and additional forces, joins limited, localized and targeted raids against Hezbollah terrorist targets and terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon which began on Monday”, indicated IDF. Adding that “the soldiers are accompanied by the IAF, the Israeli Air Force, and the 282nd Artillery Brigade.”
This ground operation comes after a week of intense Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, and a massive bombardment on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut which led to the death of several senior Hezbollah officials and cost the life of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. “The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the last,” warned Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday, a few hours before the announcement of the offensive.