The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued limited operations along the Israeli border with Lebanon between October 9 and October 11, including strikes on Hezbollah commanders responsible for rocket and anti-tank missile fire targeting Israel. Hezbollah rocket fire killed two Israelis on October 9, and the volume of fire continues to average around 190 rockets and other projectiles launched per day.
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi visited IDF soldiers operating in Lebanon on October 10, where he discussed the landscape of villages Hezbollah has operated in near the Israeli border. “If anyone considers rebuilding these villages again, they will know that it’s not worth constructing terrorist infrastructure because the IDF will neutralize them again,” Halevi said.
The IDF provided some updates on several of the divisions operating in Lebanon. On October 9, Israel’s head of Northern Command, Major General Ori Gordin, visited the 188th Armored Brigade, part of the 36th Division. The brigade has “dismantled weapons storage facilities, tunnel shafts, and cleared the area from Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure. They also significantly damaged the capabilities and weaponry of the Radwan Forces,” the IDF said.
“For two weeks now, we have been inflicting severe damage on Hezbollah’s command and control,” Gordin said. He also stated that the 60,000 Israeli civilians who have been evacuated from the northern border since October 2023 will be able to return home through the operations that the IDF is carrying out now. “As we said, we are determined to bring them back, and you are doing this with the treads of your tanks and your boots on the ground,” he noted to Israeli troops.
The 36th Division eliminated “numerous” terrorists, according to the Israeli military. It has also “dismantled over 500 operational enemy infrastructure and combat compounds, including weapons storage facilities.” One of the operation’s targets was a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Green Without Borders. It posed as an environmental group when, in fact, it was covering for Hezbollah to dig tunnels in rural areas near the border.
In another sector of the front, the IDF’s 91st Division is focused on similar tasks of finding Hezbollah weapons and dismantling other sites linked to the terrorist group. The IDF says the 3rd Brigade, which operates with the 91st Division, “discovered approximately 800 military vests and hundreds of weapons, including grenades, explosives, AK-47s, and more.” The 8th Brigade also found weapons and ammunition for a Kornet anti-tank missile launcher. The IDF has not detailed the villages or sectors in which its four divisions are operating, a degree of operational security surpassing how the IDF communicated about ground operations in Gaza.
Halevi visited IDF forces in the field in Lebanon along with the head of Israel’s Internal Security Agency, Ronen Bar. They met with Gordin and the head of the 91st Division. Halevi gave an overview of Israel’s multi-front war, which now includes three divisions fighting in Gaza and four in Lebanon. The IDF is also calling up more troops to secure the West Bank during Yom Kippur, which begins on the evening of October 11. Halevi said the IDF now operates in Lebanon against Hezbollah in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and areas south and north of the Litani River.
Bar added that the solution to Israel’s current security predicament “must be found in the terrorists’ nests and production lines.” He argued that Hamas, which was previously confined mostly to Gaza, has entrenched itself in Lebanon, as well. The situation reflects the larger context of Iran seeking to unite various fronts against Israel. It has also pursued this objective by encouraging militias in Iraq to launch drones at Israel and prodding the Houthis in Yemen to attack ships and launch missiles and drones at Israel. Iran and Israel also appear headed to more direct confrontation in the wake of the Iranian ballistic missile attack on October 8. However, for Bar and Halevi, the immediate concern is dealing with the threats in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank.
The challenge is complex. In Lebanon, the IDF carried out several precision airstrikes that it said eliminated more Hezbollah commanders. On October 10, these targets included Ahmad Moustafa al-Haj Ali, a Hezbollah commander who was responsible for rocket and missile attacks near Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, and Mohammad Ali Hamdan, commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank unit in the Meiss al-Jabal area. On October 11, the IDF hit another Hezbollah commander in the area of Meiss al-Jabal, who the IDF said was responsible for anti-tank missile fire targeting Israeli communities.
Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile fire appears to have been reduced since Israel began Operation Northern Arrows on September 23. Anti-tank missile fire has a shorter range than rockets, so it’s more difficult for Hezbollah to carry out these attacks the more that the IDF pushes into Lebanon near the border. However, on October 10, the IDF said that an anti-tank missile was fired toward Israel.
As the IDF expands raids and maneuvers in southern Lebanon, it is running into two related challenges: the difficulty of searching civilian homes for weapons and the complexity of a battlefield that includes thousands of UN peacekeepers. Israel’s military released footage and photos of numerous weapons found in civilian homes in Lebanon. In addition, the IDF has said that Hezbollah also operates near United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) posts in southern Lebanon. On October 11, UNIFIL said that two of its peacekeepers were injured by an explosion. The Israeli military said on October 10 that “IDF troops operated in the area of Naqoura, next to a UNIFIL base. Accordingly, the IDF instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces, following which the forces opened fire in the area.”
