Halevi says IDF estimates at least 1,500 Hezbollah operatives killed, others surrendering

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi tells commanders from the Golani Battalion that Israeli forces have killed some 1,500 Hezbollah operatives so far since Israel stepped up its assault on the Lebanese terror group.

“We are very determined to hit Hezbollah as hard as possible,” Halevi says during a visit to troops in southern Lebanon in remarks released by the IDF today.

“We have taken out their entire command layer,” he says referring to airstrikes that killed terror leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders. “And you are taking out the local command structure.”

Halevi says the terror group “continues to shrink and shrink.”

“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.”

Halevi also says that Hezbollah forces continue to surrender. “It says a lot about their morale and the level of fighting.”

Halevi also says that Hezbollah’s Iranian backers “also don’t understand what is happening here to Hezbollah. And they are their main arm that they have been counting on, and that is very important.”