Israel orders troops to seize new positions in Lebanon
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Smoke rising after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on March 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TEL AVIV - Israel on March 3 ordered the military to take control of more positions in Lebanon, where the army pulled back some of its forces after Hezbollah attacked Israeli bases in support of its backer, Iran.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorised the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
In response, the Lebanese army has redeployed soldiers from several recently established border positions on March 3 following the Israeli army’s “escalation”, a Lebanese military source told AFP.
The troops “numbering in total eight to nine soldiers at each point, were redeployed to their bases because of the danger to their safety”, the Lebanese military said.
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on March 2 after an initial rocket attack on Israel by Hezbollah, which said it wanted to “avenge” the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Israel promptly responded with large-scale strikes on Lebanon, where the government on March 2 declared an immediate ban on Hezbollah’s military activities
The Israeli military said on March 2 it had killed the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence services, Mr Hussein Moukalled, in a strike in Beirut.
On March 3, it announced the killing of another senior militant it named as Reza Khazai in a strike in Beirut, saying he was responsible for overseeing Hezbollah’s weapons build-up on behalf of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
The military did not identify his nationality.
‘All options’
Hezbollah said it targeted on March 3 three Israeli military bases in response to the Israeli strikes on the group’s strongholds.
Although Israel has maintained that it is not planning a full-scale ground invasion of Lebanon, the military has stated that “all options are on the table” to halt incoming rocket fire from Hezbollah.
On March 3, Mr Katz declared that troops had been ordered to seize additional locations inside Lebanon, though the military described these steps as “tactical measures” rather than a ground invasion.
Israeli forces had previously entered Lebanon in September 2024 after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges initiated by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the outbreak of the war in Gaza
Tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border had been evacuated as fighting between the two intensified.
The Israeli military has since said it did not plan to evacuate northern communities again, noting that it has reinforced troop deployments along the Lebanese border and strengthened air defences in the area.
Under a November 2024 truce, only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army may bear arms south of the Litani river, which runs around 30km from the Israeli border.
Israel was supposed to withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon under a ceasefire agreed in November 2024 but has kept troops in five border areas it deems strategic, citing Hezbollah’s refusal to surrender its own arms.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel has conducted regular air strikes on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. AFP
