Israel said intense fighting erupted with Hezbollah in south Lebanon on Tuesday after its paratroopers, commandos and armoured units launched raids at the start of a ground incursion.
The operation follows intense airstrikes that have devastated the group’s leadership, including assassinating its chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.
The Israeli military said the operations in Lebanon began on Monday night and involved the elite 98th division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza where they had been fighting against Hamas for months.
It said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages that posed “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”.
Israel’s ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds along the border that threaten Israel, not a war against the Lebanese people, Israel’s military said on Tuesday.
Lebanon is facing one of the most dangerous stages in its history, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday during a meeting with UN organisations and ambassadors of donor countries, in which they made a joint appeal for more than $400 million in aid to cope with surging hostilities.
Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon overnight for reconnaissance and probing operations. Lebanese troops also pulled back from positions along the border, the source added.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had launched rocket and artillery attacks against Israeli troops at positions within Israel, and made no mention of Israeli forces within Lebanon.
Israel’s ambulance service said one person had been wounded by shrapnel from the barrage of missiles fired into central Israel.
The Israeli military issued a warning to citizens not to move in their vehicles from the area north of the Litani river in Lebanon to its south. It has previously said it wants to clear Hezbollah from south of the river.
Despite its biggest successes against Hezbollah in decades, Israel has indicated it is primed for a full-fledged invasion of Lebanon with the stated aim of enabling thousands of its citizens who fled Hezbollah rockets to safely return to their communities near the northern border.
Israel’s strikes have displaced one million Lebanese from their homes and killed more than 1,100 people, Lebanese authorities have said. A looming ground offensive has sparked fear and anger in Lebanon.
“Not just Hezbollah, all of Lebanon will fight this time. All of Lebanon is determined to fight Israel for the massacres it committed in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Abu Alaa, a resident of the southern port city of Sidon.
(Reuters)