United States: According to Israel’s Army Radio, ground units from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered Lebanon early on Tuesday to destroy Hezbollah installations that posed a threat to Israeli civilians. This marked the official start of the Third Lebanon War.
At the “finger” or “panhandle” of Israel’s Galilee area, close to the town of Metula—Israel’s northernmost city until the Golan Heights were captured and annexed—the IDF appears to have crossed into Lebanon, according to reports.
“In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, a few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.
The IDF operates according to a methodical plan set out by the General Staff and the Northern Command, which IDF soldiers have trained and prepared for in recent months.
The Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces with precise strikes on military targets in the area.
These operations were approved and carried out in accordance with the political echelon’s decision. Operation “Northern Arrows” will continue according to the situational assessment and will be parallel to combat in Gaza and other arenas.
The IDF is continuing to operate to achieve the goals of the war and is doing everything necessary to defend the citizens of Israel and return the citizens of northern Israel to their homes.”
Two weeks had passed since Israel’s security council agreed to set a new war objective: the safe return of Israel’s northern citizens to their homes after they were forced to flee when Hezbollah opened fire in October.
This was when the ground invasion got underway.
According to Army Radio, the war’s objective is to eliminate Hezbollah strongholds and positions from which terrorists have been firing on Israeli civilians rather than to conquer southern Lebanon or create a “security zone” (see below).
Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982 to drive out Palestinian guerillas who had been shelling Israeli settlements, sparking the First Lebanon War, as per reports.
Israel was victorious in the war but made a mistake when it attempted to establish a friendly administration in Beirut amidst massacres by local militias and the deaths of civilians.
Although the PLO was compelled to withdraw from Lebanon, Israelis began to view the conflict as their Vietnam.
Israel held a “security zone” north of the border for eighteen years until the Israeli government began to negotiate its departure due to frequent attacks by Hezbollah terrorists. In 2000, after negotiations broke down, Israel withdrew unilaterally, drawing criticism from Hezbollah, which declared victory.
In 2006, many Israeli soldiers were murdered and abducted by Hezbollah, sparking the start of the Second Lebanon War. Israel struck hard at Hezbollah, but its ground forces were ill-prepared and ill-equipped, having been diverted to counter the danger of the second Palestinian intifada.
Although Hezbollah positions were successfully targeted by the Israeli Air Force (IAF), civilian casualties caused international outrage.
As a result, the George W. Bush administration pressured Israel to accept a deadlock and a compromise, specifically UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which mandated that Hezbollah withdraw north of the Litani River.
The resolution was not enforced by Lebanon or the UN, and Hezbollah disregarded it. This gave Hezbollah the opportunity to construct underground tunnels and a sizable arsenal that threatened Israeli communities.
Hezbollah is a terror group that Iran, which supplies and supports, has employed to ward off an Israeli strike on its nuclear program.
Hezbollah started firing into Israel in October of last year following Hamas’s horrific terror attack in the southern region of the nation.
Following his effort in 2022 for an agreement in which Israel gave up some of its offshore gas assets in exchange for ambiguous guarantees Hezbollah would not start another war, the Biden administration attempted a diplomatic solution, as per reports.
But Hezbollah preferred to keep shooting at northern Israel or, at the very least, to come to an agreement that would enable it to say that Israel was compelled to accept an unacceptable truce in Gaza as a result of its action.
It seems to have been a grave strategic error. Israel is now exerting its advantage after destroying the majority of Hezbollah’s arsenal in addition to the organization’s leadership and communications infrastructure in less than two weeks.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, seems committed to making sure that the Third Lebanon War concludes with an Israeli triumph and a Lebanon free from foreign incursions rather than with the uncertain outcome of the last two, as per reports.
What are your thoughts on how Israel is fighting on two fronts?