Israel’s military said Thursday that it had struck “dozens of headquarters, weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and anti-tank missile positions” belonging to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon over the last 24 hours.
The IDF said it would continue to “operate decisively against the Hezbollah terror organization” in Lebanon “to remove the threat posed to Israeli civilians.”
Israel rapidly stepped up its operations in Lebanon in parallel with its joint strikes with the U.S. against Iran, as Hezbollah joined Iran in launching retaliatory missile and drone attacks at Israel.
Israeli forces had launched raids into southern Lebanon for years, during the war against Hamas in Gaza, and then as the current Iran war began, but the operations have expanded significantly in recent weeks.
Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said Tuesday that the IDF would establish a security zone inside Lebanon after the Iran war “and will maintain security control over the entire area up to the Litani,” referring to a river that runs east-west about 20 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Katz said hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians ordered by Israel’s military to evacuate northward over the last month from the area would be “completely prevented” from returning to their homes until the security of northern Israeli residents is guaranteed.
He added that “all the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished,” mirroring actions by Israel in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
As of Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 1,318 people had been killed by Israel’s operations in the country since the Iran war began, including 125 children and 91 women.
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