The conflict between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants is escalating in southern Lebanon as the IDF seeks to expand its military front.
Despite U.S. efforts to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli forces continue to expand their operations against the militant group with heavy airstrikes and increasing ground incursions into Lebanese territory.
The current proposal to end the conflict is similar to the agreement that ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. It calls for an initial 60-day truce, during which Israeli troops would withdraw of Lebanon and Hezbollah would withdraw its armed presence along the country’s borders. southern border.
US envoys were in Israel to discuss the proposal last week, but its current status is now uncertain in light of Donald Trump’s victory in the November 5 presidential election.
The diplomacy comes as fighting intensifies between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. The escalating conflict, now in its thirteenth month, began when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli targets following the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 – the massacre and mass kidnappings in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
One of Lebanon’s main hotspots is the southern town of Khiam, located 6 kilometers north of the Israeli border and of both strategic and symbolic importance.
Hezbollah recently reported heavy fighting with Israeli troops in and around Khiam, representing the IDF’s deepest incursion into southern Lebanon since launching a ground operation in late September.
While Hezbollah is capable of damaging Israel and its forces with missiles and drone systems, military analysts say the militant group may struggle to maintain control of Khiam given its tactical importance as well as the range of IDF high-tech weapons.
Agnés Hélou, a Lebanese analyst with Breaking Defense, a defense and security media outlet, says unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) have been identified around Khiam.
“We saw the presence of UGVs like the M113, an (old) armored vehicle… which the Israelis transformed into an autonomous (operating) system,” she told Euronews.
“This can be used for surveillance purposes or operated as a suicide ground drone, like a suicide armored vehicle that can explode.”
Yossi Kuperwasser, a former Israeli military intelligence chief and senior official, said Israel had UGVs that could be “used for different purposes,” including fighting in cities.
Yet Kuperwasser – who is now an Israeli intelligence and security expert – said he could not “go into the technical procedures” or give more details.
Growing Israeli incursion
Taking control of the Khiam region is a priority for the IDF for two main reasons, analysts say.
First, the region is home to Hezbollah tunnels and hideouts. Second, occupying Khiam would allow the IDF to open a broader front against Hezbollah. According to Kuperwasser, the line would extend from southern Lebanon to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
“(Khiam) and the nearby area are geographically located at a strategic point in southern Lebanon,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT“This whole area is mountainous, and that is why control of villages and roads is very important (for the IDF),” Kuperwasser explained, adding that the area would also be considered a gateway to the Shebaa farms. , an area of 39 squares. A kilometer-long plot of land along the Israeli-Lebanese border that Israel has controlled since 1967. Syria and Lebanon claim this territory to be Lebanese.
Kuperwasser says the IDF’s official goal is to eliminate Hezbollah’s ballistic arsenal surgically, using advanced weapons and innovative AI systems to eliminate the militants’ fleets of missiles and drones.
Although Hezbollah’s overall military capacity pales in comparison to that of the IDF, the group is considered by conflict experts to be the best-armed non-state actor in the world.
“They mainly use short-range missiles which they launch from neighboring villages towards the places where attacks or ongoing clashes are taking place,” Hélou explained.
ADVERTISEMENTBut experts say Hezbollah also has medium- and long-range missiles, capable of hitting targets and infrastructure across Israel – and Kuperwasser said Israel is seeking to gain ground in Lebanon and expand its front because The IDF had “underestimated” the reach of some. Hezbollah weapons.
For example, Hezbollah’s long-range anti-tank missiles are capable of hitting targets up to 9 kilometers away, about twice the range expected by the IDF, he explained.
“It gives a different depth to the battlefield,” he added.
Ultimately, the Biden administration said it hoped a ceasefire could prevent the fighting in Lebanon from becoming as destructive as the conflict in Gaza.
ADVERTISEMENTMore than 3,000 people have been killed by Israeli incursions and strikes, and at least 1.2 million have been displaced, mainly in recent months, according to the Lebanese government.
The latest exchanges of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah have been bloody, with Lebanese authorities saying at least 20 people were killed on Tuesday following a Israeli airstrike on Barjaa town just south of Beirut.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops carried out strikes on the southern town of Nabatieh – just 25 kilometers from Khiam – after issuing evacuation orders for specific neighborhoods.
There are growing fears in Lebanon that the conflict could soon intensify following the nomination of Israel Katz as Israel’s new defense minister by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.
ADVERTISEMENTKatz pledged to “defeat” Hezbollah to facilitate the return home of people uprooted by fighting in northern Israel.
