The Israeli military has reached the deepest point in Lebanon since the ground offensive began about six weeks ago. This has been reported by both Lebanese and Israeli media, amid raging battles with Hezbollah on Saturday.
"The state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops temporarily captured a strategic hill in the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa, about five kilometers (3 miles) from the border early Saturday, before later being pushed back," Israeli media reports. "The outlet claimed soldiers detonated several buildings including a shrine before they withdrew."
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| Image source: Israeli Army |
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that troops "continue their limited, localized, and targeted operational activity in southern Lebanon."
Airstrikes continue to reach across the country, but it is the ground war which remains the riskiest endeavor for the IDF. For example on Wednesday, the IDF announced that six soldiers and officers from its Golani Brigade were killed in a single combat action.
They were reportedly ambushed by Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, after which a lengthy firefight ensued. It is rare for that many Israeli troops to die in a single ground engagement:
Israel suffered one of its deadliest days of its ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday, November 13, when six of its soldiers were killed in combat near the border.
The soldiers "fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement. Their deaths mean 47 Israeli troops have been killed in combat with Hezbollah since September 30, when Israel sent ground forces into Lebanon. The army's announcement came after Israel's new Defense Minister Israel Katz said there would be no easing up in the war against Hezbollah.
As for the new action in Shamaa, the IDF has reportedly since retreated. Warplanes have meanwhile continued to pound Beirut's southern suburbs, as well as the port city of Tyre.
Tyre has been issued new evacuation orders this weekend, and over a dozen buildings have been destroyed in new rounds of strikes. The last couple weeks have seen a new focus on targeting alleged Hezbollah hideouts in the densely populated southern city.
Lebanon's government has said several paramedics and emergency workers have been killed and wounded in some of these latest air raids. The country has remained helpless under Israeli airpower, having no real air force with modern jets to speak of. The Lebanese Army also doesn't have anti-air defense missile systems, and all of this is largely due to US policy.
⚡️Enemy strike on Tyre pic.twitter.com/LiYkqKlQBl
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 16, 2024
Hezbollah has also not relented in its rocket attacks on Israel, launching at least 65 projectiles across the border Saturday. Much of the Israeli population of the north remains evacuated from their homes on an indefinite basis.