By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2024-10-01 12:10:17 | Updated at 2024-10-07 22:25:54
6 days ago
The invasion is expected to end within weeks, and in some ways is viewed as a broadening of a large number of very short nightly special forces missions into southern Lebanon.
By YONAH JEREMY BOB OCTOBER 1, 2024 15:08
Israeli soldiers operate near the northern border with Lebanon, on February 21, 2024
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The IDF’s invasion into southern Lebanon which started Monday night just before 10:00 p.m. has met almost no resistance from Hezbollah, with not a single IDF soldier killed so far.
The invasion is expected to end within weeks, and in some ways is viewed as a broadening of a large number of very short nightly special forces missions into southern Lebanon which have been going on for an extended period.
IDF sources explained that the heavy bombing campaign over the last two weeks, the massive tank and artillery fire just before entering, and months of wearing down Hezbollah’s forces seem to have moved them out of the area or into hiding.
Unlike in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the IDF said that Hezbollah’s top and medium level command levels have been eliminated in substantial numbers, leaving a massive strategic vacuum.
Despite the invasion, the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and two weeks of heavy bombing of much of the terror group’s best rockets, the IDF said Hezbollah has failed to mount any serious strategic rocket threat to Israel, let alone to fire the 6,000-8,000 rockets per day which were expected in a worst case scenario.
A narrow mission
To date, the mission is narrow and involves an invasion only within southern Lebanon and only to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the area, such as to eliminate its weapons, which have been stored to be ready to invade Israel.
This is consistent with the war mission in the North being returning security to the 60,000 residents evacuated from their homes in October 2023 to avoid them being killed in an invasion.
However, it will not eliminate Hezbollah’s rocket threat to Israel, though this threat has been substantially damaged.
