IDF says ‘nearly a third’ of Hezbollah’s forces killed during years-long multi-front war

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Mourners carry the coffins of five members of the Hezbollah terror group killed in Israeli strikes, during their funeral procession in the southern town of Nabatieh, Lebanon, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari, File)
Mourners carry the coffins of five members of the Hezbollah terror group killed in Israeli strikes, during their funeral procession in the southern town of Nabatieh, Lebanon, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari, File)

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says the military has killed “nearly a third” of Hezbollah’s forces amid the multi-front war of recent years.

“We are striking with great intensity at all times. Our troops are operating in the forward defense line area and eliminating dozens of terrorists every week,” he says in a video statement from the Northern Command.

Defrin says the IDF has killed over 2,500 Hezbollah operatives since hostilities escalated amid the war with Iran. “Hezbollah has around 30,000 terrorists, of whom we have already eliminated nearly a third of its force,” he says.

He says that recently, the IDF struck “sector commanders and operational personnel, thereby inflicting significant blows to Hezbollah’s command-and-control capabilities.”

“Hezbollah is battered and weakened and is in a survival war for its continued existence, this is the reality on the ground,” Defrin adds.

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