In a major military operation in southern Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on Tuesday night, carried out ground raids against Hezbollah terrorist targets.
The Times of Israel described the overnight raids as “rare special operations in Lebanon’s south,” adding that “Israeli ground troops raided several sites inside Lebanon in recent days, destroying Hezbollah weapon depots and other infrastructure.”
“The forces are neutralizing terrorists and dismantling Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon, under the direction of the division’s fire brigade,” the IDF said in a statement Wednesday, referring to the operation.
Since November 2024, the IDF troops have been carrying out a “defensive mission along the Lebanese border, with the goal of protecting the security of Israeli citizens and eliminating any threat from within the state’s territory,” the military noted.
The operation was launched after intelligence reports confirmed Hezbollah’s terrorist buildup on Israel’s northern border. “Following intelligence information and the identification of Hezbollah weapons and terrorist infrastructure in several areas of southern Lebanon, the soldiers launched special, targeted operations to dismantle them and prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing itself in the area,” the IDF’s statement said.
The Israeli news website Ynetnews reported the details of the operation:
The IDF’s focus has returned to Gaza, but mostly aerial operations in Lebanon persist, keeping pressure on Hezbollah to disarm. Nearly eight months after the northern ceasefire, the IDF released footage on Wednesday documenting the destruction of Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon, including a ground compound north of Shlomi and weapons storage facilities.This marks the IDF’s first acknowledgment in months of ground operations in Lebanon, described as “specialized and focused.” The IDF’s Galilee Division, recently tasked with securing the entire Lebanon border, is conducting defensive operations, neutralizing terrorists and destroying Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. (…)In one operation on Jabal Balat ridge, opposite Moshav Zar’it, forces located a Hezbollah compound with weapons storage and firing positions, which reserve soldiers subsequently destroyed. In a targeted nighttime mission, reservists uncovered weapons hidden in dense terrain near Labouna, north of Shlomi, including a multi-barrel missile launcher, a heavy machine gun and dozens of explosive devices.
A senior Hezbollah terrorist was reportedly killed amid ongoing Israeli operations in the area. On Tuesday night, “the IDF struck and eliminated the Head of Firepower of the Zahrani sector in Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, Hussein Ali Muzhir, in the area of Al-Babliyah in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a press release.
“As part of his role, Hussein advanced numerous attacks toward the State of Israel and IDF troops, and recently he was involved in Hezbollah’s attempts to establish artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon,” the IDF disclosed. “Hussein Ali Muzhir’s activities constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
On November 27, 2024, Jerusalem agreed to a ceasefire in southern Lebanon, ending an eight-week ground operation launched to prevent the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group from using the neighboring Arab country as a staging ground for attacks on Israel. On October 8, 2023 — a day after the Hamas massacre, the Lebanon-based terrorist group began firing missiles and drones at Israel, killing at least 72 Israelis, including 12 children playing on a soccer field in July 2024. More than 70,000 Israeli civilians were forced to evacuate their homes due to Hezbollah’s deadly cross-border attacks.
With Hamas refusing to accept a 60-day ceasefire proposal presented by the U.S., the Israeli military reportedly intensified its ground operations in Gaza, targeting terrorists, weapons caches, and terror infrastructure in the northern and southern parts of the enclave.
After recent Hamas attacks on IDF troops, the military was “expanding efforts to dismantle terror infrastructure above and below ground,” Ynetnews reported Wednesday.
The military operations are underway in northern and southern Gaza, the IDF disclosed in a statement Wednesday:
IDF troops, guided by IDF and ISA intelligence, continue to operate against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.In the northern Gaza Strip, IDF troops continue to operate in the areas of Shejaiya and Zeitoun to eliminate terrorists and locate weapons. Over the past day, the troops located and dismantled a cache of explosive devices and landmines that were hidden in a civilian structure.Simultaneously, IDF troops eliminated a terrorist cell, dismantled military structures used for terrorist purposes, and struck a Hamas weapons facility site.In the southern Gaza Strip, IDF troops identified and eliminated a terrorist cell. Additionally, over the past day, the troops located several shafts and dismantled terrorist infrastructure in the al-Janina area in Rafah.
The Israeli Air Force also struck terror targets across Gaza. “Over the past day, in cooperation with ground troops, the IAF struck over 100 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, bobby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, underground tunnels, as well as additional terrorist infrastructure sites,” the IDF statement added.
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