Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari officially announced Tuesday that Israeli forces were engaged in combat in southern Lebanon — and revealed Israeli soldiers had been operating there for months.
Hagari, speaking in Hebrew, and then posting a video in English, confirmed what Breitbart News had reported after a visit to the border in April — that Israeli commandos had been infiltrating southern Lebanon on small missions. He explained that soldiers had gathered a trove of intelligence, and declassified some of what they had found, including details of Hezbollah tunnels and attack plans.
Hagari described the new operation as an expansion of what had already been happening, in secret.
He said that Israel was determined to remove Hezbollah bases and outposts in southern Lebanon that could be used to continue the rocket, missile, and drone attacks against Israeli communities that had resulted in their evacuation.
Hagari added that Hezbollah had been planning an October 7-style attack on northern Israel and hoped to “conquer the Galilee.” He also revealed a map that Israeli soldiers had discovered that he said revealed Hezbollah’s attack plans.
The IDF had no plans to reach Beirut or other Lebanese cities, he said, but merely to remove Hezbollah from the south.
The IDF also released a statement as Hagari was speaking, detailing Israeli operations in several Lebanese towns:
Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has conducted dozens of targeted operations in areas near the border in southern Lebanon in order to dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure that pose a threat to Israeli civilian communities in northern Israel.
Under the direction of the Northern Command and based on precise intelligence from the Intelligence Directorate (J2), IDF troops have conducted targeted operations against Hezbollah’s combat compounds in southern Lebanon. These operations were conducted in order to dismantle the military capabilities of Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces and prevent it from carrying out its October 7th-style ‘Conquer the Galilee’ plan for an invasion into northern Israel.
The soldiers identified and breached underground access points near the border area, exposed extensive weapon caches, assembly areas for terrorist operative operations, and more. During these operations, the troops also collected valuable intelligence and methodically dismantled the weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced weaponry of Iranian origin.
The troops also uncovered and destroyed underground infrastructure, struck thousands of targets and hundreds of weapons storage facilities, tons of explosives, and hundreds of living areas for operatives, command centers and more. Some of the weapons were recovered and taken by the soldiers back into Israeli territory.
The IDF continues to operate to degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and infrastructure, and push Hezbollah away from the border area in order to enable the residents of the north to return to their homes in safety.
Several hours earlier, Hagari posted an additional video in English for the international media:
Earlier Tuesday, Israel warned residents of several dozen villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate, and also barred any vehicular traffic south of the Litani River, focusing in particular on any traffic traveling from north to south.
The Times of Israel notes that Hezbollah’s media spokesman falsely claimed Israel had not entered Lebanon. The invasion is a blow to the prestige of the terror organization, which had styled itself as the defender of Lebanon.
As fighting continued on the ground in Lebanon, Israel also downed several dozen rockets fired by Hezbollah at northern and central Israel; downed drones launched by the Houthis from Yemen to the southern port city of Eilat; and fought Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank city of Nablus, fighting a war simultaneously on many fronts.
Israel’s Home Front Command issued restrictions on large gatherings in several regions of Israel, including Jerusalem.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer reiterated in a press briefing that Israel’s goal was to enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions requiring that Hezbollah leave southern Lebanon and be disarmed.
He wishes Israel and its soldiers a Happy New Year. The Jewish New Year begins Wednesday evening.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
