Israel begins ground offensive in Lebanon: NPR

Tanks and troops are gathering in northern Israel on Monday in preparation for a ground invasion.

Maya Levin/NPR

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Maya Levin/NPR

The Israeli military stepped up its ground assault in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, describing the operations as “limited attacks” against Hezbollah militants.

The military said When it began operations late Monday, it said it was targeting Hezbollah targets that pose an imminent threat to communities in northern Israel. The raid follows Friday's airstrike that killed the longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The operation, approved by politicians and security officials, involves ground attacks by Israeli commandos on Hezbollah targets and infrastructure in villages in southern Lebanon. The Israeli Air Force and artillery troops support the ground forces.

The Israeli military has cordoned off the area of ​​three Israeli cities near the border with southeast Lebanon. According to Israeli authorities, about 63,000 Israelis remain displaced from the border area with Lebanon due to Hezbollah rocket fire, and according to the United Nations, about a million Lebanese have been displaced from their homes while fleeing Israeli airstrikes.

An anonymous Israeli security official told NPR that Israeli troops had entered Lebanon and attacked Hezbollah military bases near the border. The official said the military was “operating in a limited area and focusing on the villages directly on the border.” Some houses are 100 meters from the border, some tens of meters from the border and some hundreds of meters from the border.” The official said a ground attack on Beirut was “not on the table.”

On Tuesday, an IDF spokesman called on residents of several villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their settlements and relocate north of the Awali River.

On Monday, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Kassem said said in a televised speech that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground fight.” This is despite a series of devastating Israeli attacks on Hezbollah leaders and members in recent weeks.

The Lebanese army had withdrawn from some checkpoints on the southern border with Israel under heavy artillery fire from Israeli forces. A Lebanese army official, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR it was a “regrouping” of forward positions exposed to an Israeli incursion.

A White House official told NPR the U.S. supports the invasion but is warning Israel about “mission creep.” The Israeli ambassador to the US told Israeli public broadcaster that the US had not limited the duration of Israel's invasion but was concerned about regional escalation.

A senior US official told NPR that the Pentagon will send “several thousand” more troops to the Middle East, with a focus on air defense.

The Israeli offensive follows days of intensifying fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli attacks across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and forced many to flee their homes in less than two weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The attacks targeted Hezbollah and its weapons, killing leader Hassan Nasrallah and several high-ranking officials, but that too was the case many civilians killed.

After the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israel and Hezbollah began mutual attacks across the Israel-Lebanese border. In support of Hamas, Hezbollah says it will continue firing rockets into northern Israel until there is a ceasefire in Israel's military operation in Gaza.

Israeli officials say the goal of this incursion is to push Hezbollah back from the border and create a so-called “buffer zone.” Israel says it will continue to target Hezbollah until Israeli residents can safely return to their homes in northern Israel after fleeing attacks by militants on the Lebanese side of the border.

The Israeli military is currently at war on multiple fronts. Israel's operation in Gaza continues with deadly attacks. On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had sent dozens of warplanes more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) into Yemen, where it said it bombed power plants and a seaport through which the Houthis were importing oil for military use. The Houthis said the areas hit were civilian targets and that at least four people were killed and dozens injured in the Israeli strikes.

Israeli security analysts said Israel's bombings in Yemen were a message to Iran, showing Israel's long-range flight capability as a tacit warning to Iran that it, too, was within Israel's reach.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran, which supports Hezbollah and Hamas, on Monday: “There is no place in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach.”

On Monday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israel's defense minister about the “serious consequences for Iran” if it were to launch an attack on Israel. The US is concerned that Iranian-backed groups are threatening US troops in Iraq and Syria as the conflict between Israel and Iranian-backed groups worsens. Defense Secretary Austin said the U.S. is supporting Israel in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure along the Lebanese-Israeli border so that Hezbollah cannot threaten Israeli border towns. But he called on Israel to finally turn to diplomacy.

Talks about a possible ceasefire in Gaza are on hold.