Israeli troops conduct 'limited' ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, IDF says

Israel's military forces crossed the border into southern Lebanon on Monday to execute "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids" against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group. The attack, which aims to push Hezbollah fighters away from the Israeli border, is expected to take a few days rather than weeks, according to US sources.

According to a US official, a Biden administration official, and a source familiar with the plans, Israel informed the US that the goal of the incursion into southern Lebanon is to push Hezbollah forces farther away from the Israeli border and target their infrastructure, including stockpiles and weapons.

“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] began limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement on X early on Tuesday.

“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” it continued, adding: “Operation ‘Northern Arrows’ will continue according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas.”

According to Lebanese media, one hit targeted a building in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee Palestinian camp near the southern city of Sidon early Tuesday, with Al Jazeera reporting several casualties.

Early Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry reported that Israeli strikes on Lebanon's southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut had killed at least 95 people and injured 172 others in the previous 24 hours.

Heavy firing into Lebanon was taking place along the border north of Kiryat Shmona, near where Israeli armour and troops advanced into Lebanon during the 2006 conflict. According to Lebanon's national news agency, airstrikes resumed in Beirut and at least ten other places around the country's south.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on Monday "to review security developments and Israeli operations," according to a Pentagon readout of the conversation.

Austin and Gallant "agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hizballah cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel's northern communities," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, stated in a statement.

When asked about Israeli special forces raids into southern Lebanon, President Joe Biden said, "We should have a ceasefire now." "I'm okay with them stopping," the president stated.