IDF Chief Believes War In Lebanon Is Becoming Much More Likely

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (center) meets troops during a drill in northern Israel, January 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces) 

Times of Israel: Visiting north, IDF chief says war in Lebanon becoming much more likely  

Halevi says lessons from fighting in Gaza will be applied to fight against Hezbollah and its allies, as Hamas rocket barrage from Lebanon targets Rosh Hanikra 

The likelihood that Israel will be drawn into a war in Lebanon is growing, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Wednesday, hours after Hamas terrorists fired a barrage of rockets at a northern Israel town. 

With visiting troops drilling for a simulated offensive inside Lebanon, as the army winds down its most intense stages of fighting in Gaza, Halevi said Israel was “increasing readiness for fighting in Lebanon,” as it seeks to stabilize its northern border and allow tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the region to return home.

The IDF has “a very clear goal in Lebanon — to return the residents to the north, all the communities in the north,” Halevi said.  

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Update: IDF chief Herzi Halevi warns likelihood of Israel going to war in Lebanon is 'higher than before' -- NYPost  

WNU Editor: It looks like Israel is now focusing its attention on Lebanon .... IDF shifts focus from Gaza to Lebanon, West Bank (Long War Journal).

Israel Launches Intense Strikes On Hezbollah In South Lebanon

 

Reuters: Israel carries out intense strikes on Hezbollah in south Lebanon 

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Israel unleashed an intense barrage of air strikes on a valley in south Lebanon, Lebanese security sources and the Israeli military said, after a rare Israeli acknowledgment of a special forces operation on the border. 

Lebanese security sources told Reuters there were at least 16 airstrikes in quick succession on the Suluki Valley, describing them as the "densest bombardment of a single location" since border-area hostilities began three months ago. 

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has been trading fire across Lebanon's southern border with Israeli forces in support of Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas militants rampaged across the Gaza border into Israel on Oct. 7, prompting an Israeli invasion of the enclave backed by heavy air strikes.  

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Israel Launches Intense Strikes On Hezbollah In South Lebanon  

IDF special forces operate within Lebanon, target Hezbollah -- Jerusalem Post 

IDF Attacks Hezbollah Targets Deep In Lebanon -- I24 NEWS 

Israel Hits Lebanon Valley In Most Intense Strikes: Official, Source -- AFP

Israeli Hospitals Near The Lebanese Border Preparing For War Against Lebanon

Hospital employees walk underground in a hallway at Galilee Medical Center, a community hospital in Nahariya, in northern Israel. Claire Harbage/NPR  

i24 News: Israeli hospitals near Lebanon border preparing for 'desert island' scenarios  

A massive attack by Hezbollah could leave the medical centers for days without access to equipment, medicine or food, as well as staff in the reserves 

Israeli hospitals near Lebanon border preparing for 'desert island' scenarios.

A massive attack by Hezbollah could leave the medical centers for days without access to equipment, medicine or food, as well as staff in the reserves  

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WNU Editor: Not surprised with this preparation. The war between Israel - Hezbollah is escalating .... ‘Brink of war’: Hezbollah-Israel trade further strikes across border (Al Jazeera).

Israeli Airstrike Kills Six Senior Hezbollah Figures In Syria

Reuters: Israeli strike in Syria kills senior Hezbollah figures

WNU Editor: Apparently the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah was also killed in this airstrike .... if true .... expect Hezbollah to respond very soon.

More News On Today's Israeli Airstrike That Killed 6 Senior Hezbollah Commanders

Israeli strikes kill 6 Hezbollah fighters in Syria -- AP
Hezbollah Says Israeli Strike Kills 6 Fighters -- WSJ
'Israel strike' kills Hezbollah men in Syria's Golan Heights -- BBC
Hezbollah fighters killed in 'Israeli attack' -- Al Jazeera
Hezbollah Says Israeli Helicopter Strike Killed Five Fighters in Syria -- NYT
Hezbollah Says Israeli Airstrike Kills Six Commanders -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Israeli airstrike in Syria said to have killed Hezbollah officials -- L.A. Times
Israel strikes Hezbollah convoy in Syria -- RT

'Son of late Hezbollah leader Mughniyeh was planning attacks on Israel' -- Jerusalem Post
Strikes on Hezbollah May Be Israel’s Attempt to Prevent Future Attacks -- Sputnik
Israeli Airstrike in Syria Kills Son of Late Hezbollah Commander -- VICE News
Israel Refuses to Comment on Airstrikes on Hezbollah Militants in Syria -- Sputnik

Is Hezbollah Building Terror Tunnels Into Israel?

An Israeli army officer during an army-organized tour in a tunnel said to be used by Palestinian militants for cross-border attacks. Credit: Jack Guez/Reuters

Israel Concerned Hezbollah Building Terror Tunnels -- Washington Free Beacon

Eyes turn to Lebanese border following destruction of Hamas tunnels.

JERUSALEM—Even before it finished defusing the tunnel threat from the Gaza Strip Monday with the detonation of the last of 31 Hamas attack tunnels, the Israeli army began shifting its attention to the possibility of a similar threat from Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon.

Residents of communities on the northern border have periodically reported hearing the sound of underground digging over the years but despite probes by army engineers, no signs of tunneling into Israeli territory have ever been found.

However, the extent and sophistication of the Hamas tunnels from Gaza, 10 of which extended under the border fence to within a few hundred yards of Israeli kibbuzim and villages, has renewed concern about the Lebanese border. Last week, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, the largest town on the border, sent an urgent appeal to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to investigate the matter thoroughly.

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My Comment: For the moment there is no evidence that they are building such tunnels .... Hezbollah is more focused on the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS. But it only takes one .... a few miles long and used for a terror attack .... that can completely upset Israel's sense of security on the northern border.

The Next Israeli - Hezbollah War Will Destroy Lebanon

Hezbollah Setting IDF Up For Another Goldstone -- Jerusalem Post

Senior IDF officer says destruction in Lebanon will be extensive due to Hezbollah establishing command posts, bases in villages.

Israel’s 2009 offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, will pale in comparison to what will happen to Lebanon in a future war with Hezbollah, a senior IDF officer in the Northern Command said on Thursday.

“The destruction will be greater in Lebanon than in Israel and the amount of explosives which will fall there will be far more than what will fall here... We will need to be strong and aggressive,” the officer said.

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My Comment: I suspect that every Hezbollah target known by Israeli has been already painted and targeted for attack .... even targets that are in towns and cities. And today's Israeli warnings to the Lebanese civilians are just that .... in the event of war and you are living beside a Hezbollah military compound or installation .... you better run.

It Appears That The Israel - Hezbollah War Never Ended

During the Height of the Israeli - Hezbollah War

Israel's Secret War On Hezbollah -- Wall Street Journal

Iran's proxy army in Lebanon will think twice before launching another round of missile attacks.

On Monday, a secret Hezbollah munitions bunker in South Lebanon blew up under mysterious circumstances, injuring a senior official in the organization. This is the second such incident in recent months. The first occurred on July 14, when an explosion destroyed a major Hezbollah munitions dump in the South Lebanese village of Hirbet Salim. Hezbollah immediately pointed fingers at the Mossad. Whether or not Israel was to blame, the explosion caused Hezbollah considerable discomfort by proving that it was in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids stockpiling weapons south of the Litani River.

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My Comment: There is a lot of wishful thinking on the part of Israel. There is no proof that in the event of another war, Israeli actions would be any more successful than what was the case in the last war. In fact, the impression I have is that Hezbollah is better armed and more prepared to confront Israel today than what they were prepared to confront 3 years ago.

U.S. Report: Hezbollah Fought Israel Better Than Any Arab Army

From Haaretz:

A new report from the U.S. Army War College warns that the American military must learn the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, in which Hezbollah operated more like a conventional army than a guerrilla organization.

The report, "The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy," warns against placing too heavy an emphasis on classic guerrilla warfare, and raises the possibility of further non-state actors following the Lebanese militant group's example.

"Hezbollah's 2006 campaign in southern Lebanon has been receiving increasing attention as a prominent recent example of a non-state actor fighting a Westernized state," the authors of the report state. "In particular, critics of irregular-warfare transformation often cite the 2006 case as evidence that non-state actors can nevertheless wage conventional warfare in state-like ways."

The authors of the report, Dr. Stephen D. Biddle and Jeffrey A. Friedman, state that changes made by the U.S. Army in conducting urban warfare against guerrilla fighters in Iraq could compromise the military's ability to deal with other enemies in the future.

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My Comment: Hezbollah had positioned themselves in fortified and secured defensive zones to inhibit any Israeli attack.When the Israelis did show up .... they were at a disadvantage to fight right from the start.

Coupled with "up to date" anti-tank and missile weapon technology, this Israeli disadvantage became even more prevalent.