Israeli Military Says Its Ground Forces Have Entered Lebanon

Last updated on September 30th, 2024 at 07:43 pm

The Israeli military, on Sept. 30, announced its ground forces began combat operations inside southern Lebanon, indicating a new phase of battle with Hezbollah.

“In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, the IDF began a few hours ago a targeted and demarcated ground operation in southern Lebanon against terrorist targets and infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, in a number of villages near the border, which pose an immediate and real threat to Israeli settlements on the northern border,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a Monday evening press release.

The IDF said this ground operation was accompanied by increased artillery fire and airstrikes across the Israel-Lebanon border.

The statement follows the IDF’s order last week for Israeli ground forces to prepare for an incursion into southern Lebanon.

The IDF statement follows reports of smaller cross-border raids earlier on Monday.

U.S. officials had alluded to Israeli operations inside Lebanon earlier in the day.

Asked earlier on Monday if he was aware of any upcoming Israeli military actions in Lebanon and comfortable with the potential escalation that could bring to the region, President Joe Biden said, “I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping we should have a ceasefire now.”

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report, early on Monday, that Israeli special operations forces had entered a tunnel system inside Lebanon.

“I’ve seen reports about ground operations,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday afternoon. “We’ve had some conversations with [Israeli officials] about that. They have, at this time, told us that those are limited operations.”

The exact extent of the Israeli ground assault into Lebanon remains to be seen.

The Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli air and artillery strikes earlier in the day on Monday. NNA reported a Lebanese Armed Forces service member was killed in one of the Israeli strikes targeting the Wazzani checkpoint in southern Lebanon.

While Hezbollah constitutes both a Lebanese political movement and paramilitary faction, it is separate from the Lebanese Armed Forces.

The Biden administration, last week, joined international calls for Israeli and Hezbollah forces to agree to a 21-day ceasefire, to allow time for a diplomatic off-ramp to the ongoing fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected those ceasefire calls and said Israeli forces would “continue fighting with full force.”

Israeli aircraft have conducted dozens of strikes across Lebanon in the past week. Hezbollah confirmed one such Israeli strike killed their chief political leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Sept. 27.