IDF says Hezbollah toll at 1,500; Lebanese PM: A lesson to stay out of regional conflicts
Halevi says numbers are a ‘conservative’ estimate, adds Hezbollah forces are surrendering; rockets continue to target northern Israel; four soldiers seriously injured in fighting
Israel’s military chief said Friday that at least 1,500 Hezbollah operatives are believed to have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the conflict there, while adding that the numbers could be higher.
“We have taken out their entire command layer,” Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told commanders of the Golani Brigade, referring to airstrikes that killed terror leader Hassan Nasrallah and many other top leaders. “And you are taking out the local command structure.”
Hezbollah “continues to shrink and shrink,” he said.
At the same time, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati voiced rare criticism of the terror group that has a stranglehold over his country, saying during a meeting with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that “what is happening today is a lesson for all Lebanese to stay out of regional conflicts.”
Both agreed that a diplomatic solution must take precedence over violence.
Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel a day after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on the country’s south, saying it was doing so in support of the Gaza-based terror group. But after suffering nearly a year of cross-border attacks, Israel launched a major offensive against Hezbollah in September with catastrophic consequences for the group, decimating its leadership and crippling much of its capabilities.
This month it launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon to dismantle terror infrastructure that threatened communities near the border.
“We are very determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as possible,” Halevi said during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon.
“Hezbollah is hiding casualties, hiding dead commanders. We estimate that we have killed some 1,500 Hezbollah operatives, and our estimates are conservative. I imagine there are more that we don’t know about from dozens of strikes.”
The army said some 60 Hezbollah operatives had been killed in the past day in fighting in southern Lebanon and in airstrikes, and that troops fighting in villages in southern Lebanon had found and destroyed large caches of weapons.
Halevi said Hezbollah forces continue to surrender. “It says a lot about their morale and the level of fighting.”
He also asserted that the terror group’s Iranian backers “don’t understand what is happening here to Hezbollah. And [Hezbollah] are their main arm that they have been counting on, and that is very important.”
At the same time, the military said it was sending another reserve brigade to join forces in southern Lebanon.
The brigade “will enable the continuation of the combat effort against the Hezbollah terror organization and achieving the goals of the war, including returning the residents of the north safely to their homes.”
Also Friday the army said four soldiers had been seriously hurt in fighting in Lebanon the previous day, three of them as a result of friendly fire. The three, from the elite Maglan unit, were mistakenly hit by a shell fired by an Israeli tank. The IDF said it was investigating the incident.
Another officer, a reservist, was wounded in fighting on the border, the IDF said.
Hezbollah said it was entering a new phase in its fight against Israeli troops, adding that it had introduced new weapons over the past few days. A statement from the group’s operations room said Hezbollah’s fighters had used new types of precision-guided missiles and explosive drones for the first time.
It said its fighters were working according to “plans prepared in advance” to battle invading Israeli troops in several parts of south Lebanon.
Rocket and drone sirens sounded in northern communities throughout the day Friday, including in the Haifa area. The IDF intercepted several rockets and drones.
There were no reports of casualties or damage.
מוקדם יותר היום, חיל האוויר יירט בהצלחה שני כלי טיס בלתי מאוישים שעשו את דרכם לשטח הארץ מלבנון.
הכלים יורטו בטרם חצו לשטח מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/hJ2oLCkmwK— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 18, 2024
In Lebanon, Mealoni called for the strengthening of the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
“Only by strengthening UNIFIL while maintaining its impartiality, we will be able to turn the page,” Meloni said alongside Mikati.
“I repeat that I consider targeting UNIFIL is unacceptable,” Meloni added, in reference to recent incidents in which the mission’s troops were hit by Israeli fire or had a confrontation with Israeli troops. Israel has said it does not target UNIFIL and has urged the peacekeepers to evacuate south Lebanon, saying Hezbollah operatives sometimes fire at troops from beside UN posts. UNIFIL has resisted calls to pull out.
On Thursday the army said that five soldiers from Golani’s reconnaissance unit had been killed in the ground offensive. The soldiers were named as company commander Maj. Ofek Bachar, 24, from Nes Ziona; team commander Capt. Elad Siman Tov, 23, from Tzofim; squad leader Staff Sgt. Elyashiv Eitan Wieder, 22, from Jerusalem; Staff Sgt. Yakov Hillel, 21, from Jerusalem; and Staff Sgt. Yehudah Dror Yahalom, 21, from Hebron.
A number of other soldiers were seriously hurt during battles in southern Lebanon.
During a press conference Thursday night, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Golani soldiers captured Hezbollah operatives during the battle in which the five troops were killed.
