Has Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon? | Israel attacks Lebanon news

EXPLAINER

As Israel steps up its attacks on Lebanon, we examine its motives and what is known so far.

Israel has announced “ground attacks” on southern Lebanon, expanding its military operations in the territory of its northern neighbor.

The attacks, supported by airstrikes and artillery, began early Tuesday morning and Israel said they were targeting the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in villages near the border with Israel.

However, Hezbollah denied that Israeli troops had entered Lebanon, despite experts citing mounting evidence suggesting an imminent Israeli invasion.

Here's what we know about the latest developments.

What did Israel say?

• The Israeli military arrived at around 2 a.m. (23:00 GMT). said his soldiers had taken off entered Lebanon “a few hours ago” with “limited, localized and targeted ground attacks based on precise intelligence.”
• The offensive follows two weeks of intense Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including an airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, attacks in the past 24 hours have resulted in at least 95 deaths in southern Lebanon, northeastern regions and the capital Beirut.
• On Tuesday, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari stressed that Israeli forces had carried out limited and targeted raids.
• He added that Israeli forces had conducted dozens of operations in southern Lebanon “in recent months.”
• Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) said Israel attacked several locations on Tuesday with airstrikes, artillery shelling and heavy machine gun fire.
• Israeli columnist Gideon Levy said Israel was in the early stages of its ground operation in Lebanon and warned that the operation could become “complicated.”
• “Look at Gaza. “Israel is stuck in Gaza and has no idea how or when it will get out of Gaza,” Levy said. “The same thing could happen in Lebanon now.”

What did Hezbollah say?

• Hezbollah denied that Israeli forces had entered the country.
• “All Zionist claims that (Israeli) occupation forces have entered Lebanon are false,” Hezbollah media officer Mohammad Afif told Al Jazeera.

• Ali Rizk, a Beirut-based security and political analyst, said Israeli troops tried to “overwhelm” Hezbollah fighters but were repulsed and forced to retreat.
• “What the Israeli side may be carrying out is a propaganda war when it talks about successfully invading Lebanese territory. “So this could be part of an Israeli psychological war and it would not be the first time that they have resorted to such tactics,” Rizk told Al Jazeera.

Is an invasion imminent?

• Israel appears to be indicating that an operation is imminent, albeit through limited and targeted raids targeting Hezbollah strongholds.
• “Our war is against Hezbollah, not against the Lebanese people,” Hagari said.
• However, Elijah Magnier, a security analyst, said that Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon are not just conducting a limited ground operation but are growing in size and are likely planning to encircle and eliminate Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

• “It's not what the Israelis tell us. From open sources (intelligence information) we learn that the Israelis have prepared at least 18 brigades. So we’re talking about 70,000 to 100,000 soldiers,” Magnier told Al Jazeera.

Are there also air strikes?

Yes, in Lebanon, in Israel – and beyond.

• In Lebanon: An Israeli rocket attack reportedly hit a building in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, near the southern city of Sidon. This is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the country.
• According to the NNA, Israel targeted sites in the governorates of South Lebanon and Nabatea, both of which lie on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
• On Tuesday, the Israeli military also asked residents of more than two dozen villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate north of the Awali River, about 60 km (nearly 40 miles) from the border.
• In Israel: The army said five rockets were fired from Lebanon at Metula in northern Israel, with some intercepted while others landed in uninhabited areas. Metula has a population of around 1,400 people.
• Hezbollah also said it fired a volley of “Fadi-4” rockets at the Glilot base, targeting military intelligence unit 8200 and the Mossad headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
• In SyriaAt least three people were killed in a suspected Israeli attack on Damascus on Tuesday, state media said.

What is the larger context?

• Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah began exchanging fire last year when the group fired rockets in support of the Gaza Strip, which was bombed by Israel following a Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
• In the months that followed, the confrontation intensified and these exchanges forced more than 100,000 people on the Lebanese side of the border to flee their homes and communities, while some 60,000 Israelis on the other side were internally displaced.
• For much of this period, fighting was confined to a region near the borders. However, that changed in mid-September when Israel began attacking Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.
• Within two weeks, Israel assassinated several Hezbollah commanders and finally Nasrallah. Electronic communications devices were also detonated, killing 39 people and injuring thousands, and a large-scale bombing was carried out that killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, including dozens of children.

Why did Israel say it launched the operation?

• Israel's stated main goal is to secure northern Israel so that the thousands of displaced citizens can safely return to the region after a year of cross-border attacks.
• “We will use all means at our disposal to achieve this goal,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
• Israel's 36th Armored Division is already deployed along the border with Lebanon. It consists mainly of artillery and armored brigades.
• The country's 98th Paratrooper Division, which includes paratroopers, commandos and tank brigades, is also stationed along the border. This division saw extensive fighting in Gaza last year.
• “They also sent the 7th Armored Brigade, which is also the best of their armored units. They are very well trained and very well supported,” said Al Jazeera defense editor Alex Gatopoulos.

• But it doesn't come without challenges, as experts say not all soldiers are experienced, “unlike some of the Hezbollah fighters,” Greg Stoker, a former US Army Ranger and geopolitical analyst, told Al Jazeera.

How might Hezbollah respond?

• Hezbollah, founded in 1982 at a time when Israel occupied southern Lebanon, said it had attacked Israeli troops along the border with artillery fire.
• On Monday, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said in the group's first public broadcast since Nasrallah's killing that the group was prepared for a possible Israeli ground attack and a long war.
• The group is one of Israel's biggest enemies in the region and one of the pillars of Iran's so-called resistance axis against Israel and the controversial US role in the Middle East.
• “Hezbollah has a special unit called Radwan Force, which focuses primarily on fighting in the south and trains exclusively in this location. “Obviously the mountainous and rocky terrain lends itself to ambushes and sniper attacks,” Gatopoulos explained.
• In 2006, during Israel's last war in Lebanon, inexperienced Israeli units “were surprised by Hezbollah's training and repeatedly fell into ambushes,” Gatopoulos said.

Have Israeli troops ever been to Lebanon?

Yes, 2006, 1982 and 1978.

• During a cross-border raid in July 2006Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers who it hoped would facilitate a prisoner exchange with the country.
• Israel responded militarily, resulting in a 34-day war. Neither side was able to prevail militarily, but more than 1,100 Lebanese and 165 Israelis were killed. Nasrallah often said the 2006 war was a success for Hezbollah, noting that it withstood Israel's much larger forces.
• In 1982began the longest Israeli invasion of Lebanon. As with this week's operation, Israel said the incursion would be short, limited and aimed at crushing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). However, this led to an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
• And clean 1978, Israel sent troops across the border after members of the PLO entered Israel by sea from Lebanon following an attack in Tel Aviv.

What were the reactions?

• Several governments, including those of the United Kingdom, Germany and France, have ordered the evacuation of their citizens from Lebanon.
• The Pentagon announced Monday that an undisclosed number of U.S. soldiers have been deployed in preparation for deployment to the Middle East.
• Speaking to Gallant, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington supported Israel's “need to dismantle Hezbollah's attack infrastructure along the border with Lebanon” to prevent “October 7-style attacks on Israel's northern communities.”
• For more information on the reactions, see our story here.