IDF says ‘still more work to be done’ against Hezbollah: ‘We cannot stop here’

Ahead of a potential ground offensive against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, the Israeli military is saying that it has “great confidence” in the army’s ability to carry out a ground maneuver, following experience gained by troops during the past 11 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The IDF is saying that a ground offensive in Lebanon is already planned out, and is being practiced by troops while the fighting is ongoing on several fronts. The plans include operations in areas near the border, as well as deep within Lebanon, according to the military.

The military also reveals that on three separate occasions amid the war it was ready to ramp up its offensive actions against Hezbollah, in an operation now known as Northern Arrows, which was launched on Monday with nearly 2,000 munitions dropped by the Israeli Air Force on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon within 24 hours.

The strikes, according to the military, are taking away Hezbollah’s capabilities that it had built up for 20 years, which in turn are preventing harm to the Israeli home front.

The IDF is saying that it has made significant achievements in the past 10 days in Lebanon, since diverting its focus there, including killing top Hezbollah commanders, eliminating the leadership of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, and striking thousands of sites where Hezbollah stored arms, but stress that “there is still more work to be done, and we cannot stop here.”

In order to return the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel, the IDF has set out a goal of damaging Hezbollah’s command and control, destroying its capabilities in the border area, and removing the threat of an invasion. Once the fighting is over, the IDF is saying that it would need to enforce any ceasefire agreement with firepower and prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing itself close to Israeli border communities.