Israel says it launched ‘special, targeted operations’ in southern Lebanon

Army shares video of troops on ground in ‘targeted nighttime operation’ amid near-daily attacks against neighbour.

Israeli troops have entered southern Lebanon, the military says, to dismantle infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, in its latest near-daily violation of its November ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group.

The military said in a statement on Wednesday that it had launched “special, targeted operations” to destroy Hezbollah facilities and prevent the group from “reestablishing itself in the area”.

It claimed the ground incursion had been launched, acting on “intelligence information and the identification of Hezbollah weapons and terrorist infrastructure in several areas of southern Lebanon”.

The army statement said the 9th Brigade was in the Labbouneh area, while troops from the 300th Brigade were operating in the Jabal Blat area further west – both within sight of the border.

It shared a video captioned “footage from a targeted nighttime operation of the 9th Brigade in southern Lebanon”, troops were shown walking on the ground.

The army has not commented on whether the incursion marks the first time it has operated on the ground in Lebanon since agreeing to the United States-brokered ceasefire in November 2024.

Since striking the deal, which sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah – including several months of all-out war – Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes across Lebanon, including multiple strikes on the capital, Beirut.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah arms depots and fighters, but numerous civilians have been killed and wounded, and residential buildings were destroyed.

Israeli attacks across Lebanon

The new operation was announced as Israel intensified its strikes in Lebanon amid Hezbollah’s weakened position, the Lebanese army staying on the sidelines and the international community’s failure to pressure Israel to abide by the truce.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly asked the US and Israel to rein in Israel’s attacks on the country.

On Sunday, the Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon.

“We cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,” Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs for Ashura, an important day in the Shia Muslim calendar.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.

Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country, but has kept them in five locations it deems strategic to its own interests.

Thomas Barrack, an adviser to US President Donald Trump who serves as Washington’s ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, returned to Beirut on Monday, praising the Lebanese government’s response to a US proposal aimed at disarming Hezbollah amid Israel’s continued military presence in the country.

Since the Gaza war started in October 2023, Israel has also carried out attacks against members of Palestinian factions that maintain a presence in various areas of Lebanon, mostly in camps for Palestinian refugees.

On Tuesday, an Israeli strike on a vehicle near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli killed at least three people and injured 13 others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

The military later announced that it had killed Mehran Mustafa Ba’jur in the strike, describing him as one of Hamas’s key commanders in Lebanon.

It underscored that Israel’s assaults are being launched across the country, not just in the south. It was the first time an Israeli assassination had taken place in the area since the truce.