‘Like Gaza’: Israel said planning ‘massive’ south Lebanon ground invasion to uproot Hezbollah
After terror group’s huge rocket assault on Wednesday night, officials say Israel wants to seize entire area south of Litani River; Ron Dermer said tasked with talks with Beirut
Israel is planning to launch a “massive” ground invasion of southern Lebanon in order to push the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group away from the border and destroy its weapons stores and positions, US and Israeli officials told the Axios news site on Saturday.
The report said the Israeli plan aims to seize the entire area south of the Litani River that bisects Lebanon from east to west and that the operation became inevitable after the terror group launched a large-scale rocket attack on northern Israel on Wednesday.
It also comes after Hezbollah’s leader said his group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel.
“We are going to do what we did in Gaza,” a senior Israeli official told Axios, referring to the destruction of buildings and tunnels that Hezbollah uses to store its weapons and launch strikes.
“The goal is to take over territory, push Hezbollah’s forces north and away from the border, and dismantle its military positions and weapons depots in the villages,” the official said.
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By signing up, you agree to the termsThe official said that Israel had largely been trying to contain the situation in Lebanon and focus on Iran, but that had changed after the terror group launched more than 200 rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday in an attack that was coordinated with Iran, which fired missiles at the same time.
“Before this attack we were ready for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but after it there is no way back from a massive operation,” a senior Israeli official told the site.
On Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, following a fresh assessment, ordered a “broad reinforcement” of troops in the Northern Command, “as part of strengthening readiness for various offensive and defensive scenarios,” the military said in a statement.
The army said the deployment will include forces from the standing army, including the 98th Division, with two brigade-level combat teams and combat engineering battalions.
Reservist forces from the 252nd Division will be mobilized and deployed to the Gaza Strip to swap out the standing army units who are being sent to the Northern Command. In the Central Command, the IDF will also be extending the duty time of several reserve battalions.
The IDF has also urged thousands of civilians in southern Lebanon to evacuate to safer areas.
This would not be Israel’s first attempt to push Hezbollah away from the border. During the conflict that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, Israeli forces destroyed large parts of several villages in border areas where Hezbollah had built tunnels and fortifications ahead of a plan to attack Israel in a move similar to the Hamas invasion.
Under the ceasefire that ended that conflict, Lebanon had agreed to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani, but Israel said the work was not adequate.
Previously, following the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war, Israel retained a wide strip of southern Lebanon as a security zone, before withdrawing to the international border in 2000 after years of bitter guerrilla warfare with Hezbollah and other armed groups.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday his terror group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel. “We have prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, and God willing, they (Israelis) will be surprised on the battlefield,” Qassem said in his second televised address since the latest war began.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Spare the airport
According to Axios, the US supports Israel’s plan, but has asked Jerusalem to spare Lebanon’s national infrastructure and international airport.
“The Israelis have to do what they have to do to stop the Hezbollah shelling,” a US official said, adding that while Israel has agreed not to hit the Beirut airport, they have stopped short of giving a blanket commitment not to hit infrastructure.
An Israeli official said Israel would consult with the US on a case-by-case basis. “We feel we have full US backing for this operation,” the Israeli official told Axios.
Israel on Friday destroyed a bridge over the Litani River between the towns of Zrarieh and Tayr Falsay.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the bridge was being used by Hezbollah as a “key crossing” to move from northern to southern Lebanon, “prepare for combat against IDF troops, and operate against the civilians of the State of Israel, while endangering Lebanese civilians and causing extensive destruction in populated areas.”
The attack was the first on Lebanese public infrastructure to be acknowledged by Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with the IDF saying it was necessary to strike the bridge to prevent a “threat to Israeli civilians, and the continued harm to Lebanese civilians.”
The military said Hezbollah also positioned rocket launchers near the bridge and carried out rocket attacks on Israel from the area recently.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also threatened additional strikes against infrastructure.
“This is only the beginning, and the Lebanese government and the Lebanese state will pay an increasing price through damage to Lebanese national infrastructure that is used by Hezbollah terrorists,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said during an assessment with IDF chief Zamir and the military’s top brass.
“The Lebanese government, which misled and did not fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah, will pay increasing prices through damage to infrastructure and the loss of territory, until the central commitment of disarming Hezbollah is fulfilled,” he added.
Earlier this week, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered to negotiate directly with Israel, but on Friday he said he had not received a response.
However, Axios said that in addition to the large-scale ground operation, Israel was also preparing for the possibility of talks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu tapping his confidant and former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer to handle Lebanese-related diplomatic efforts.
The report said that US President Donald Trump has tasked US envoy for Africa Massad Boulos with trying to facilitate talks. Boulos is also Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law.
The report quoted sources as saying the Trump administration wants a broader deal to formally end the state of war between Israel and Lebanon.
Strikes continue
Hezbollah continued rocket and drone fire at Israel on Saturday morning, with Sirens sounding in the northern border community of Margaliot.
The IDF on Saturday also published footage showing what it says were Hezbollah operatives loading rockets into a weapons depot in southern Lebanon and the subsequent strike on the site.
According to the military, troops identified the operatives Friday as they brought rockets into a storage facility in the area of the village of Majadel. Within minutes, the air force carried out a strike on the depot, killing the operatives.
An Israeli strike hit an apartment building in a northern Beirut suburb that had also been targeted a day earlier, Lebanese media reported on Saturday.
An AFP correspondent saw rescue workers at the scene and damage, including a hole, in a building in the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area, outside Iran-backed Hezbollah’s strongholds in the capital’s southern suburbs.
The same building had been struck on Friday without causing casualties.
Meanwhile, Lebanese health authorities said Saturday that Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses working at a healthcare centre in the town of Burj Qalawiya, following another strike on the town of Sawaneh that left two paramedics affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal dead.
There was no direct comment from the IDF in the incident, but on Saturday the military accused Hezbollah of making “extensive military use” of ambulances and medical facilities in Lebanon.
“We warn that the military use of medical facilities and ambulances must stop immediately, and we stress that if this approach does not stop, Israel will act in accordance with international law against any military activity carried out by the Hezbollah terror organization using those facilities and ambulances,” says army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
The military deployed troops deeper into southern Lebanon last week, saying it aims to “establish a forward defense that will create an additional security layer for the residents of the north.”
The IDF has said that Hezbollah is launching most of its rocket and drone attacks on Israel from deeper within southern Lebanon, and not from close to the border.
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