‘Localized, targeted’ incursion aimed at removing terror group’s infrastructure in area; US official tells Times of Israe (TOI: We understand desire for limited op, but worry about mission creep
By Emanuel Fabian, Jacob Magid (ToI Staff) and Agencies
Israel launched limited ground raids into southern Lebanon late on Monday night against Hezbollah forces and infrastructure positioned along Israel’s northern border, hours after the security cabinet approved plans for the newest phase of the war against the Lebanese terror group, in a move that the US appeared to warily support.
Announcing the incursion in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the IDF said that “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” had begun several hours earlier.
It said they were focused on “Hezbollah targets and infrastructure” in a number of Lebanese villages along the border that posed an immediate threat to Israeli towns on the other side of the Blue Line.
Ground troops operating inside southern Lebanon were being assisted by air and artillery forces, the military said, adding that the operation was based on plans drawn up by the IDF’s General Staff and Northern Command.
The IDF’s formal confirmation that Israeli troops were operating in Lebanon came several hours after various conflicting reports emerged on social media and in some Arabic media outlets as to whether some troops had already crossed the border.
Lebanese troops had further added to speculation when they pulled back about five kilometers (three miles) from positions along the border late on Monday, apparently opting to stay on the sidelines, as they have done historically in major conflicts with Israel.
On Tuesday morning, the IDF released footage showing the 98th Division, an elite formation of paratrooper and commando units, leading the overnight ground operation.
It said the division’s Paratroopers and Commando brigades were joined by the 7th Armored Brigade.
Ahead of the IDF’s announcement of the incursion, an Israeli official told the Times of Israel that their US counterparts had been informed that the goal of the limited operation was to remove Hezbollah positions along the northern border, thus creating the conditions for a diplomatic agreement under which the terror group’s forces would be pushed back beyond the Litani River, in line with a UN Security Council resolution.
In an apparent attempt to assuage US concerns, two Israeli officials told the Axios news site that the operation would be limited in both time and scope and was not intended to occupy southern Lebanon.
While the US had voiced concern earlier on Monday that even a limited incursion could spread further and turn into something else once it was already underway, the Biden administration appeared to express its support for the raids by way of a call between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“We agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hezbollah cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel’s northern communities,” Austin said in the Pentagon’s readout of the call.
During the call, the pair discussed Israel’s latest military operations, and Austin “made it clear that the United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself.”
While he seemed to voice support for the IDF operation, Austin nevertheless stressed that the incursion was not an end in itself.
“I reaffirmed that a diplomatic resolution is required to ensure that civilians can return safely to their homes on both sides of the border,” he said in the readout.
The US defense secretary also issued a warning to Iran and its proxies. He “made clear that the United States is well-postured to defend US personnel, partners, and allies in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organizations and determined to prevent any actor from exploiting tensions or expanding the conflict,” the readout continued. It added that Austin “reiterated the serious consequences for Iran in the event Iran chooses to launch a direct military attack against Israel.
Speaking to the Times of Israel earlier on Monday night, a US official stressed that while the Biden administration understood and accepted what Israel was trying to accomplish, Washington was still concerned that the IDF would get bogged down in Lebanon or be drawn to expand the mission at a later point. The official noted, however, that Israel was also concerned about such mission creep.
Echoing that line of thinking, another US official pointed to how Israel framed its 1982 invasion into Lebanon as a “limited” incursion, and how it had turned into an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
The start of the IDF’s ground offensive came some two weeks into intensified fighting with Hezbollah, and after Operation Northern Arrows was launched earlier in September to meet the recently declared war goal of bringing residents of the north back to their homes following their evacuation last October under heavy rocket fire from the Lebanese terror group.
Earlier in September, thousands of Hezbollah’s communication devices exploded, reportedly taking some 1,500 fighters out of action, in an attack widely blamed on Israel.
Israel then engaged in days of targeted attacks, wiping out most of Hezbollah’s leadership in repeated strikes, culminating in the IDF killing longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, when fighter jets dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on the group’s underground headquarters, located beneath residential buildings in a suburb of Beirut.
In its statement on Tuesday morning, the military stressed that it was “continuing to operate to achieve the goals of the war and is doing everything necessary to defend the citizens of Israel and return the citizens of northern Israel to their homes.”
Throughout the period of intensified fighting, the IDF had warned that it could conduct a limited ground offensive into Lebanon, leading the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to make an apparent last-ditch effort on Monday to stave off the possibility by declaring that the Lebanese government was ready to fully implement a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that had aimed to end Hezbollah’s armed presence south of the Litani River.
He did not, however, say that he had reached an agreement with Hezbollah on the matter, and it was not clear how he proposed to implement UN Resolution 1701 — which declares that Hezbollah is barred from maintaining a military presence south of the Litani — without use of force against the terror group that effectively controls southern Lebanon.
In the hours leading up to the limited raids, several European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats’ relatives and others, while Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out.
The UK said that it had chartered a commercial flight for its nationals who wished to evacuate Lebanon, expected to depart from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday, with further flights dependent on demand. Canada said that it had reserved 800 seats on commercial flights for citizens who wished to evacuate. About 45,000 Canadians are currently in Lebanon, and the next flight was scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
At the same time as the IDF announced it had begun operating inside Lebanon, Syrian state media reported that the country’s air defenses had intercepted “hostile targets” over the vicinity of Damascus, following an explosion that was heard in the capital.
The state television channel later said that one of its anchors had been killed in what it said was three rounds of allegedly Israeli strikes in the area of the capital. Identifying the anchor as Sadaa Ahmad, the channel said he was “martyred in the Israeli aggression on the capital Damascus.”
Citing a military source, the state media outlet said two others had also been killed, and nine people were wounded. There was no immediate comment from the IDF, which rarely comments on reports of airstrikes inside Syria.
Sirens warning of incoming Hezbollah rocket fire continued to blare periodically across northern Israel on Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday, alongside reports of Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and in Beirut.
Three rockets were launched from Lebanon toward the Israeli town of Shtula shortly before midnight, setting off sirens in the border community. The rockets all landed in open areas, and the attack was claimed by Hezbollah.
Sirens were also triggered in the Upper Galilee town of Misgav Am and the surrounding area shortly after, although there were again no reports of damage or injuries.
The IDF later said that ten rockets had been fired from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system while others had landed in open areas.
In the morning, three more rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee, two of which were intercepted while the third impacted an open area near Bar’am, according to the IDF.
The Israeli Air Force, meanwhile, intercepted a drone over the Mediterranean Sea, dozens of kilometers west of Israel’s central coast overnight. The military did not specify where the drone was launched from.
Shortly before midnight, the IDF warned civilians to flee three sites in Beirut’s southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, before it commenced strikes in the area, and Lebanese media outlets reported that large explosions could be heard across the city.
Speaking to AFP on the condition of anonymity, a Lebanese security official said that Israel had conducted at least “six or seven strikes” in the southern Beirut suburbs.
It was not immediately clear what the targets were, or what damage had been caused, although in a more general update, the Lebanese health ministry said that over the past 24 hours, at least 95 people had been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on the country’s southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut.
In southern Lebanon, Lebanese media and a Palestinian source said that Israel had launched a strike on a building in the Ain El-Hilweh Palestinian camp near Sidon.
It was the first strike on the overcrowded camp, the largest of Lebanon’s several Palestinian camps, since cross-border hostilities broke out nearly a year ago.
The strike had targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials. Maqdah’s fate was not immediately clear
