Aiming to enable return of displaced Israelis, IDF pushes deeper into south Lebanon
Troops are now operating in ‘second line of villages’ to remove Hezbollah threat of invasion and direct missile fire, though rockets will still fly unless a ceasefire is reached
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
SOUTHERN LEBANON — After a night of rain, the army’s routes into southern Lebanon were coated in a very thick layer of mud. A soldier driving a Humvee with a group of journalists this week came prepared with a waterproof suit and goggles.
“Hold on tight,” the driver said, as the army vehicle sped down a sharp slope after crossing the border from Israel into the western sector of southern Lebanon, splashing mud and rainwater into the air.
Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces had expanded its ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Troops have pushed into what the military calls the “second line” of villages, after largely completing its operations against the Lebanese terror group in the border-adjacent towns.
Remnants of the IDF’s operations against Hezbollah in the first line of villages were visible during the drive. Numerous houses were in piles of rubble, though others seemed to be standing with minimal damage.
Hezbollah staging grounds — some of them underground, some inside the villages, and some in forested areas — with massive amounts of weapons and equipment have been blown up by the army. The military has destroyed any house that had been used by Hezbollah, sparing those where no weapons were found.
Senior IDF officers have said that since dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the first line of villages — along with much of the villages themselves — the threat of an invasion by the terror group into northern Israel has been removed.
IDF roadblocks, set up in northern Israel to prevent civilians from driving on roads that were exposed to anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon, have all been removed in recent days.
Removing the invasion and anti-tank missile threats could enable the some 60,000 displaced Israelis from the north to return to their homes, after they were evacuated shortly after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in the south amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.
Still, the IDF has not explicitly said that the residents of the north can return yet, and local authorities are in no rush to call on their citizens to come home, with some even calling on the army to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon.
In the second line of villages, the IDF is still finding Hezbollah staging grounds, along with fighting positions from which the terror group has launched anti-tank missiles directly at Israeli border communities and military posts along the border.
“Our task is to make sure that there is no ammunition left and no enemy infrastructure left in the area so that in the end, it allows the political echelon to return the residents to the Galilee and the north,” said Lt. Col. Roi Katz, a battalion commander in the 188th Armored Brigade, during a press tour of a village in the western sector of southern Lebanon this week, around 2.5 miles from the border.
Katz said it would be “impossible” for Hezbollah to use the area where his forces have operated so far as a staging ground “to enter and raid the territory of the State of Israel and attack the citizens of the Galilee with ease.”
At Katz’s makeshift post in the Lebanese village, a truck full of Hezbollah rockets, anti-tank missiles, explosive devices and machine guns was being prepared to be taken back to Israel.
The commander said that some of the weapons were left behind at the Hezbollah position and destroyed, because they were either too heavy to bring back or damaged in a way that would make them unsafe for transport.
The second line of villages is only around 4-5 miles from the Israeli border, meaning that the threat of rocket fire and drones launched by Hezbollah at northern Israel is still present.
In recent days, the terror group has been raining down around 100 rockets a day on the Galilee, as well as the northern city of Haifa. Hezbollah has also launched several missile attacks on central Israel.
The projectiles are being launched from deeper within southern Lebanon — in areas where IDF ground forces are not operating — and, in some cases, from the northeastern Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek — where Israeli ground troops will likely never operate.
Some residents of the Galilee have returned to their homes amid the IDF’s ground operation, but not en masse. Some have explained that staying in other northern towns is no safer these days. In an unfortunate irony, border cities like Nahariya, which were never evacuated, have suffered several deadly rocket attacks.
But the tank battalion commander refused to say if it was safe for the residents of the border towns to return.
“I do not decide whether the residents of the north can return to their homes. I will carry out all the goals that were defined for me because I understand that in the end, it will allow the state to return them,” he told The Times of Israel.
Defense and military officials have indicated that the only way to enable the return of the displaced civilians to the north and put an end to the rocket fire is via a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, which may be within reach but has thus far proven elusive.
Civilian researcher killed
During the reporters’ visit to southern Lebanon on Wednesday, sounds of gunfire and artillery shelling could be heard from a neighboring village. A short while later, medical dispatches were heard by this writer over the radio, with commanders declaring that four troops had been hurt.
The journalists’ exit from the village was delayed by several hours amid the medical evacuation of those wounded. Only upon reaching the border in the late afternoon and turning phones on again did this writer receive an update on what had transpired.
Israeli researcher Zeev Erlich, 71, who had been brought into southern Lebanon by a senior commander to examine an archaeological site — an ancient fortress — without the proper approvals, was killed in a battle with two Hezbollah operatives, alongside Sgt. Gur Kehati, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion.
Two other officers, including the chief of staff of the Golani Brigade, Col. Yoav Yarom — who brought Erlich into Lebanon — were wounded.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has appointed a general in reserves to lead a team of experts investigating the circumstances of the incident and Erlich’s entry into Lebanon. In addition, there is a military investigation into the incident led by IDF Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and a separate criminal probe by Military Police.
Shortly before the incident, Katz told reporters that his forces had encountered more Hezbollah operatives in this area of southern Lebanon compared to other villages where his battalion had operated in recent weeks, raising further questions about Erlich’s visit to the frontlines.
“It should be said that we always had the upper hand and all the enemies we encountered were defeated,” he said.
“As long as we work in a focused, orderly manner and bring all the capabilities of the army to the table, there really is no enemy that can stop us.”
