An Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon appeared imminent Monday night as defense chiefs spoke of a new stage in the war against Hezbollah, and world leaders engaged in last-minute and seemingly futile appeals for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group.
Lebanese troops pulled back from the border with Israel late on Monday, as the IDF imposed a closed military zone in the area of the northern border communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi. Israel’s high-level security cabinet also met to discuss developments.
US officials said the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion could be near.
Toward midnight, various conflicting reports emerged on social media and in some Arabic media outlets as to whether some troops had already crossed the border, but these could not be confirmed.
Jerusalem had been warning for weeks that it could conduct a limited ground offensive into Lebanon, following the declaration earlier this month that bringing residents of Israel’s north back to their homes, following their evacuation last October under heavy rocket fire from Hezbollah, was an official goal of the war.
Israel has repeatedly said over the past year, given Hezbollah’s daily attacks, that it would not accept anything less than the removal of Hezbollah’s forces from the entire border region so that the terror group cannot threaten Israel’s northern towns with an October 7-style attack.
Earlier, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, said that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement.”
Reports in Hebrew media Monday said a potential ground operation would be limited in scope and aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit in the border region, but not at holding territory for a long stretch of time, given pressure from the US to limit the scale of any ground incursion.
As reports of troop movements proliferated, the US State Department said that Israel was “currently conducting” limited operations targeting Hezbollah.
“This is what they have informed us that they are currently conducting, which are limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists.
Israeli special forces have already conducted small-scale forays into southern Lebanon in recent days, in advance of a potential invasion, according to a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told mayors of northern cities on Monday afternoon that “the next phase of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”
“It will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important [mission] of returning the residents to their homes,” he said.
Gallant told infantry soldiers near the border that the killing on Friday of Nasrallah was “a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have.
“You are part of this effort. We trust you to be able to accomplish anything,” he told troops of the 188th Armored Brigade and Golani Infantry Brigade.
Hours later, the Israeli military said in a statement that Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin had recently approved tactical battle plans with officers who would be involved in a potential ground offensive.