The Israel Defense Forces have carried out strikes on Hezbollah’s underground command centers, the IDF said on the evening of October 8. The strikes are some of around 185 targets struck in Lebanon between October 8 and October 9. The targeting of Hezbollah’s command centers comes a week after the IDF’s ground operation began in Lebanon and two weeks after the IDF began Operation Northern Arrows against Hezbollah. The battle with Hezbollah continues as Israel is holding talks with the United States about a possible Israeli response to Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden on October 9.
The IDF is using airstrikes to target Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as the IDF ground forces conduct smaller operations near the border. The Israeli military estimated that it eliminated fifty Hezbollah terrorists, including six “senior commanders from Hezbollah’s southern front and the Radwan forces,” the IDF said on October 8. The strikes are intended to target Hezbollah forces operating in southern Lebanon that are part of the four major Hezbollah units in the area. These include the territorial divisions of Hezbollah in the south, called the Nasser, Badr and Aziz units, as well as the elite Radwan forces. The Nasser unit controls the eastern section of southern Lebanon on the border with Israel from Bint Jbeil to the Syrian border. The Aziz unit controls the western half of the border. The Badr unit controls areas north of the Litani and near Sidon. The head of the Nasser unit was killed by Israel in June and the head of the Aziz unit was eliminated in March.
In the lead-up to Northern Arrows the IDF eliminated numerous Hezbollah commanders in strikes in Beirut. Now the Israeli Air Force has moved back to focusing on the entire regional command structure that underpins Hezbollah’s ability to continue to fight in southern Lebanon. “According to IDF assessments, in the last 24 hours, 50 targets of the Aziz Unit, 30 targets of the Nasser Unit, and 5 targets of the Bader Unit were struck. Additionally, around 10 targets of the Radwan Forces and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, as well as approximately 30 targets of the medium-range rocket unit in southern Lebanon, were targeted,” the IDF said on October 8.
The IDF named some of those who were eliminated, primarily Hezbollah commanders in the Bint Jbeil and Ghajar sectors which are in the eastern part of the border. The IDF is focusing on removing Hezbollah’s chain of command that exists between its local units that are likely in places such as Maroun al-Ras near the border, and what remains of Hezbollah’s command structure in Beirut or north of the Litani and the Bekaa valley.
However, Hezbollah continues to fire rockets throughout northern Israel. On October 8, approximately 180 rockets crossed into Israel, while 220 crossed into Israel on October 9. Hezbollah has kept up this volume of rocket fire throughout most of the two weeks of war. Some Hezbollah projectiles, which may include mortars and anti-tank missiles, are targeting IDF troops in Lebanon. The IDF estimates 140 projectiles were fired in Lebanon that did not cross into Israel. Hezbollah claimed on October 8 that it had used “missiles” to target IDF soldiers in Maroun al-Ras. Hezbollah also shows it can continue to fire large barrages of rockets. In one case, forty rockets were fired toward Haifa. In a second case, twenty were fired at Kiryat Shmona and ninety were launched at areas in the Galilee over a period of several minutes.
Hezbollah began its rocket fire at Israel on October 9 at 4:54am, targeting an area near the border. It then expanded its rocket fire to areas near Haifa and on the coast, more than thirty miles south of the border at 8:29am. In the afternoon it transitioned to targeting areas north of Haifa and also Kiryat Shmona and areas in the eastern Galilee and Huleh valley. This continued into the evening with several drone threats detected by Israel between nine in the evening and midnight. The Hezbollah attacks killed two people in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and also wounded a teen in Haifa. Kiryat Shmona, a city of around 22,000 people, was evacuated by Israel in October 2023 due to Hezbollah threats.
The Hezbollah attacks and fighting in southern Lebanon continue as Israel faces ongoing threats on other fronts. One rocket was fired from Gaza on October 9. There was also a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera. The perpetrator was identified as an Arab Israeli citizen from the city of Umm al-Fahm.
