IDF claims to have conducted 70 covert operations with special soldiers in southern Lebanon in recent months.
The IDF says some of the operations lasted two to three days. They claim the IDF soldiers have spent a total of more than 200 nights in hostile terrain in recent months.
It is a humiliation of the highest order that Israeli soldiers have been able to operate so freely in southern Lebanon, writes Berlingske.
A key part of the operations, according to the IDF, has been to move around Hezbollah’s tunnels and seize weapons.
Berlingske shows a video of one such operation.
Israeli special forces soldiers in a tunnel in southern Lebanon. Still image video/ IDF
The IDF claims that Hezbollah has amassed large quantities of weapons at the border with Israel, and that they were planning a terrorist attack similar to the one carried out by Hamas on 7 October.
Listen to IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari as he reveals Hezbollah’s plan to “Conquer the Galilee” and commit another October 7-style massacre: pic.twitter.com/4AdYsoJDLv
– Israel Defence Forces (@IDF) October 1, 2024
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is “eliminating Hezbollah in southern Lebanon” as he looked at weapons captured by IDF forces operating covertly across the border several days ago, the defence ministry reveals, writes Times of Israel.
“We are expanding the IDF operation in southern Lebanon,” Gallant said, well before the 98th Division entered Lebanon last night.
Everything you see here – weapons, rockets, explosives, missiles, these are things that the IDF has found, where the Radwan force planned to attack Israeli citizens, kill them and kidnap them.”
“We’re eliminating the Hezbollah organisation in southern Lebanon and cutting off its arm, the Radwan force, along the entire line of contact,” Gallant continued.
“What we’re doing here is an expression of the importance of getting the citizens of the north safely back to their homes. We are changing the security situation from beginning to end.”
At the same time, the IDF says it is calling up four more brigades of reservists, in addition to the five reserve brigades already mobilised.
The IDF says it faces virtually no resistance from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The US has reportedly warned that Iran is planning to attack Israel with ballistic missiles, according to IDF spokesman Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari. The White House says the attack is said to be “imminent”.
“A direct military attack by Iran against Israel would have serious consequences for Iran,” says a source according to Berlingske.
New air strikes are being carried out against Beirut, but the details are not known.
