The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) proceeded on 1 October 2024 with what was described as a “limited ground operation” into Lebanon to target the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah.
The incursions, which are the IDF’s first since the 34-day war with Hezbollah in 2006, are reported as being limited in scope, focusing on two dozen or so villages in southern Lebanon from which the IDF told local residents to evacuate. From these areas the IDF intends to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure such as tunnels and the ability to launch rockets into northern Israel.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesman, said on 1 October that the ground raids “will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israeli towns, kibbutzim and communities along our border”.
Adm Hagari said that Israel would not allow an attack similar to the one by Hamas on 7 October 2023, launched from the Gaza Strip, to occur on its northern border.
“Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel,” he said.
In a briefing released by the IDF in X/Twitter, Adm Hagari presented evidence that Hezbollah was planning an operation involving thousands of fighters that would have mirrored the October 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel, including descriptions of preparatory tunnel complexes and maps detailing Israeli settlements and IDF positions.
In its 7 October 2023 attack on Israel Hamas killed around 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage, of whom 117 had been released or rescued as of 28 August 2024.
Adm Hagari said the IDF operations in Lebanon would be “limited geographically”, adding, “We are not going to Beirut or the cities in southern Lebanon. We are focusing in the area of those villages, the area next to our border. We will do in this area what is necessary to dismantle and demolish Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”
Asked how long the IDF operation in southern Lebanon would last, Adm Hagari replied, “We are doing it as short as we can, days, weeks.”
Despite the limited scope of the IDF incursions into southern Lebanon, they nevertheless prompted an Iranian missile attack on Israel on the evening on 1 October. Iranian state TV carried a statement from the lslamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) confirming “dozens” of missiles had been launched towards Israel, while the IDF put that number at around 180 missiles fired.
Many of these deemed to be targeting populated areas were intercepted by the IDF’s multi-layer air defence network, while US sources told the CBS news network that US forces in the region also intercepted some of the Iranian missiles.
In a press briefing on 1 October Major General Patrick Ryder, the US Department of Defense’s press secretary, said two US Navy destroyers in the region were used to fire interceptors at the Iranian missiles.
The IRGC described the missile strike as retaliation for the assassination in July of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as well as the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September, as well as and the killing of Lebanese and Palestinian people.
Iran previously launched a direct attack Israel with ballistic and cruise missiles and bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicles on the night of 13 April 2024; that was mounted in response to an Israeli air strike on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus on 1 April 2024 that killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force.
Gen Ryder said the Iranian missile attack on 1 October was about “twice the scope” of Iran’s April attack in terms of the ballistic missiles used, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of a cabinet meeting on 1 October that Iran “made a big mistake tonight, and will pay for it” and that Iran “does not understand” Israel’s “determination to retaliate” against its enemies.
“They will understand,” said Netanyahu. “We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us – we will attack”.
