Middle East War: “We Know the Battle Could Be Long,” Israel's Land Invasion of Lebanon Began Tuesday

Israel confirmed early Tuesday, October 1, 2024, that it had begun “limited and localized” ground maneuvers in southern Lebanon. MAXPPP – Sylvain Rostaing/Le Pictorium

Israel's invasion of Lebanon, which had been considered imminent, apparently began in the early hours of Tuesday as the Israeli army announced it had launched “limited” ground assaults against Hezbollah in areas near the border between the two countries.

The ground incursion represents an escalation of the Middle East conflict between Israel and Iran-aligned militias, nearly a year after Palestinian Hamas attacked Israeli towns to which the Jewish state responded by laying a total siege on the Gaza Strip ever since. It also threatens to push the United States, Israel's main ally, and Iran into direct involvement in the conflict.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had begun “limited, localized and targeted ground assaults, based on precise intelligence”, against Hezbollah in Lebanese villages near the border that pose “an immediate threat”for Israeli communities in the north of the Hebrew state. The IDF added that Israeli air force and artillery were carrying out “precise strikes” in support of ground troops.

Residents of the Lebanese border town of Aita El-Shaab reported heavy shelling and the presence of helicopters and drones. According to two Palestinian security sources, an Israeli strike was carried out on a building in the Ain El-Hilweh refugee camp near the city of Sidon, targeting Mounir Maqdah, the commander of the Lebanese branch of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – the armed wing of Fatah. It was not immediately clear whether Mounir Maqdah was killed in the attack. This is Israel's first attack on Lebanon's largest and most crowded Palestinian refugee camp since cross-border clashes with Hezbollah began last October.

“Any Means Necessary”

The Israeli ground assaults come after two weeks of intensive bombardments and attacks by the IDF across Lebanon, including the simultaneous detonation of hundreds of pagers believed to belong to Hezbollah members and the assassination last Friday of the Shiite movement's iconic leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Several Hezbollah commanders have also been killed by Israel in bombardments in recent days. Israeli strikes across Lebanon over the past fortnight have killed more than 1,000 civilians and forced more than a million Lebanese to flee, according to local authorities. According to a security source, the IDF bombarded areas on the southern outskirts of Beirut on Monday.

A Reuters reporter saw a flash of light and heard a series of powerful explosions an hour after the Israeli military urged residents to evacuate the areas, citing the presence of Hezbollah infrastructure. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told councilors in northern Israel that the new phase of the war along Lebanon's southern border would begin soon. He said it would help advance the goal of bringing home Israelis who have fled border areas amid Hezbollah rockets for nearly a year on the sidelines of the war in the Gaza Strip. Yoav Gallant also told Israeli soldiers that “all means that may be necessary” will be used: “Your forces, other forces, air, sea, and ground. Good luck”.

Lebanese Army in retreat

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that the Lebanese army had withdrawn about five kilometers (three miles) from its positions along the border with Israel. The report was neither confirmed nor denied by a Lebanese army spokesman. The Lebanese army traditionally stays away from major conflicts with Israel. It has not yet taken part in the cross-border clashes that erupted last October. The White House and the U.S. State Department did not immediately comment on Israel's ground assaults in southern Lebanon. Hours earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden had called for a ceasefire. “I'm more concerned than you know and I'd be fine with them stopping,”, he told reporters when asked if he was comfortable with Israel's plan to carry out a cross-border incursion into Lebanon.

“We have to have a ceasefire,”, he added. Israel last week rejected a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire on the Lebanese border, put forward by the United States and France with the aim of providing a diplomatic window for displaced civilians to return home on both sides of the border.

“Protecting our people and our country”

The assassination last Friday of Hassan Nasrallah, a leading figure in the Iran-aligned “Resistance” against Israeli and American interests in the Middle East, was one of the major setbacks for the Hezbollah and Tehran in recent decades. In his first public comments since Hassan Nasrallah's death, Hezbollah's deputy leader said that “the resistance forces are ready for ground clashes”.Naim Qassem added that the Shiite movement would appoint a new secretary general as soon as it had the opportunity to replace Hassan Nasrallah, who is considered both a terrorist by the West and a hero by millions of supporters for his fight against Israel. “We know that the battle could be long,”, Naim Qassem said. “We will prevail, as we won liberation in 2006”, he continued, referring to the previous major conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Iran, Hezbollah's main supporter, that no place would be off-limits to “protect our people and our country”. In a three-minute video, in which he spoke in English to the Iranian people, the Israeli leader accused Tehran of plunging the Middle East “deeper into war” to the detriment of the Iranian people themselves. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tehran would not let Israel's "criminal acts" go unanswered, referring to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who was killed at the same time.