Israel’s military prepares ground for possible invasion of Lebanon. Israel’s military chief, General Herzi Halevi, told troops that Wednesday’s massive attack on Hezbollah is intended to “prepare the ground for a possible entry (into Lebanon) and to further weaken Hezbollah.” The message comes after several days of speculation about a possible Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon to try to combat the militia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to give details about his plans, but has said: “We are dealing blows to Hezbollah that it could never have imagined; we are doing it with force and with intelligence.”
Hours earlier, the army had also announced the mobilization of several brigades in the north of the country, after carrying out new bombings on Lebanon shortly after an unprecedented attack on Wednesday by Hezbollah with the launch of a ballistic missile against the Tel Aviv area, the first acknowledged by both sides in almost a year of fighting. The Shiite militia has specified that the target of the rocket was the headquarters of the Mossad (secret services abroad), on the outskirts of the city and the economic heart of the country, where anti-aircraft sirens have sounded warning the population of the danger. The massive attack that Israeli fighter planes are carrying out is the third this week on Lebanese territory.
For days, both the government and the military commanders have been raising the hypothesis of a possible invasion of the neighbouring country. The movement of the soldiers mobilised on Wednesday “will allow the continuation of the fighting against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, the defence of the State of Israel and the creation of conditions for the residents of northern Israel to be able to return to their homes”, said a statement.
On Wednesday afternoon, no troop movements were seen on the roads in the far northeastern corner of the country, near Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra, as EL PAÍS has confirmed. “All options are on the table. It is no secret that many troops are being mobilised throughout the country,” said Doron Speilman, a military spokesman, in Kibbut Saar, five kilometres from the border, one of the points reached on Wednesday by the Shiite militia. “We will see what happens in the next few days,” he added, without offering details of a possible invasion after the announcement of the mobilisation of several brigades.
“The army is fully striking what we consider to be an imminent threat to the State of Israel. That is the missiles and rockets that Hezbollah has ready in rooms and attics, as well as the leadership of Hezbollah, which we are finishing off,” the soldier said amid the damage caused by the projectile. “If Hezbollah retreats to the Litani River, this is over,” Speilman added, referring to the riverbed, a few kilometres above the border, on whose southern bank the Shiite group is prohibited from deploying by UN resolution 1701.
Half a million displaced
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Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has put a number on those who are fleeing in a hurry (in cars, on motorbikes, on foot…) from the bombings that Israel began on Monday and that have killed nearly 600 people and injured more than 1,800. These are figures that are unprecedented in the country in such a short time since the end of the civil war in 1990. “We had 110,000 displaced people and now we are close to half a million,” said the minister at an event organised by the think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A mass exodus — in a country of 5.5 million people — is heading toward the homes of relatives (or strangers), schools converted into shelters, or hotels. Hundreds of Syrian refugees are also returning to their country, even though it is still at war.
The militia has indicated that the launch towards the Mossad headquarters is revenge for the attack with the almost simultaneous remote detonation of thousands of search and rescue vehicles. walkie-talkies that the party-militia had distributed among its own. Israel has not explicitly acknowledged this operation, but has hinted, in statements by several leaders, including Netanyahu, that it was the work of the Mossad.
On Wednesday morning alone, the militia launched some 40 rockets towards different regions of Israel. The ground-to-ground rocket aimed at Tel Aviv was intercepted by the anti-missile defense system, according to the army, which has not changed the instructions given to the civilian population in the central area, nor cancelled school classes. No personal or material damage has been reported.
It is the first time that Hezbollah has hit such a target with one of its rockets in almost a year of fighting, the Israeli military said. The militia claimed a similar attack last month, in retaliation for the assassination of its number two, Fuad Shukr, but the government of Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it as propaganda. Shortly afterwards, the Israeli army announced “extensive bombings” in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, as it had done in the previous two days. For the first time it attacked Maaysrah, in the predominantly Christian Keserwan region.
The day provided further evidence of the risks of the conflict spreading to the region. Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq announced the launch of a drone against the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. When the sirens sounded there, Israeli fighter jets shot down the drone south of the Sea of Galilee, the army said. In the area around Haifa, which is home to the country’s main port in the northwest, just thirty kilometres from the border with Lebanon, fighter jets have been flying over the area constantly, as in recent days.
Triple anti-aircraft shield
In this time, Hezbollah has been expanding the radius of its missile launches, coinciding with the most intense bombardments of its positions by the Israeli air force. Israel bases its defence mainly on a triple anti-aircraft shield, which is what has thwarted on Wednesday the plans of the Lebanese Shiite militia to strike at the heart of one of the best protected institutions. Israeli military sources assure that its effectiveness is around 90% and it has the strong support of its main ally, the United States.
On the lower layer, closest to the ground, is the Iron Dome, which has been operating since 2011 to intercept short-range rockets and artillery, such as those frequently fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza or Hezbollah, now from southern Lebanon. At the intermediate level is the so-called David’s Sling (David’s sling), operational since 2017 and designed to stop ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as medium- and long-range rockets. It is at this level that the Israeli defense is believed to have acted with the attack by the Shiite militia on Wednesday. Finally, in the upper layer, the Arrow system has also been in operation since 2017, to intercept missiles that fly outside the atmosphere.
The incursion by ground troops into Lebanon, which is being speculated, is intended to push back Hezbollah militants stationed along the border from where they frequently carry out attacks towards the south. Netanyahu, making it clear that the situation is unsustainable, has insisted that everything necessary from a military point of view will be done to ensure that the 60,000 residents evacuated from the immediate vicinity of this border can return to their homes safely.
Neighbours gather at the entrance to the house attacked in Kibbutz Saar. A group of young people chanted in front of the microphone of an Israeli channel to encourage their country’s troops and Hezbollah. One of them is Ariel Bahat, 18, who lives just a few metres from where the shell fell. At his age, he knows that it will soon be his turn to join the troops, but he doubts this when asked if it is time for his country to order a ground incursion into Lebanon. “For now, it is better for them to continue hitting targets with the air force. We will see if Hezbollah continues to attack us if the time comes to invade,” he says. Another neighbour, a father who did not give his name, asks for “less speculation” about a possible ground operation, and “more faith.” “This family has been very lucky. God has saved them,” adds Spielman, the military spokesman.
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