Israeli Forces Push Deeper Into South Lebanon

Jerusalem, 19 October, 2024 (TPS) -- Israeli forces pressing their offensive against Hezbollah pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a failed drone strike targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea and an Israeli man was killed in a Hezbollah missile barrage.

“In the deepest area where IDF forces have operated so far in ground operations in Lebanon: Division 98 forces destroyed a Hezbollah headquarters and located many weapons,” the IDF said. The expanded operations suggest Israel has largely secured the immediate vicinity of the Lebanese border and will continue its efforts to eliminate Hezbollah’s presence from southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu and his family were not at their private residence in Caesarea at the time. Responding to the attack, Netanyahu said, “Iran’s agents who attempted to assassinate me and my wife today have made a grave mistake. This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our battle for security and survival against our enemies. We will ensure the safety of our nation for generations to come.”

In Kiryat Haim, near Haifa, an Israeli man was killed when fragments from an interceptor rocket hit him on Saturday. The man was identified as Alexey Popov, 51.

In southern Lebanon, troops raided a building serving as Hezbollah’s headquarters and an observation post overlooking Israeli communities in the Upper Galilee. Large numbers of explosive charges, weapons and other enemy intelligence were seized.

Other forces of located and destroyed dozens of weapons including Russian-made Kornet anti-tank guided missiles and launchers, explosive charges, dozens of RPG missiles and other weapons.

Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil sector, Nasser Abd Elaziz Rashid, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The IDF said Rashid organized and carried out rocket attacks on Israel from the Bint Jbeil area.

Troops also located and destroyed what the IDF described as “a combat complex located in the area of ​​a school in the heart of a Lebanese village.” Several tunnel shafts and an accumulation of weapons — including RPG missiles, combat gear and other weapons — were found and destroyed.

In Beirut’s Dahieh district, a Hezbollah stronghold, Israeli aircraft struck several munitions warehouses and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters. The IDF warned civilians to evacuate the area and used surveillance to mitigate harm to civilians.

“This attack is another part of the ongoing effort to damage the munitions warehouses and production sites in the Beirut area of ​​the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which are located in the heart of the civilian population, under residential buildings in the heart of the city and pose an ongoing risk to the population,” the army said.

Israeli forces also completed the destruction of a central underground route that was exposed earlier in the week. The tunnel was intended to be used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force to invade the Galilee.

More than 50 tunnel shafts and underground terror infrastructure have been located in mosques, schools and other civilian buildings in recent days, the army said.

According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah is forbidden from operating in southern Lebanon south of the Litani River.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. According to figures released by the government on Sept. 29, more than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.