The Israeli army pushed forward again on Thursday around the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, seeking to reach the strategic Ali al-Taher heights, an area it has pounded with dozens of strikes over the past two years.
Lebanese security assessments suggest the aim is to reach tunnels and facilities belonging to Hezbollah.
The move followed a similar strategic advance two weeks earlier, when Israeli forces reached the strategic Beaufort Castle east of Nabatieh before expanding around it.
Their next objective is Ali al-Taher hill, one of the last strategic heights overlooking Nabatieh from the west. The hill also overlooks Lebanese towns occupied by Israel and, in some places, has a line of sight toward settlements and towns in Galilee in northern Israel’s eastern sector.
New advance
Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers were seen at the Zafata site in Kfar Tebnit, east of Nabatieh, on the main road linking Marjayoun to Nabatieh.
Reports said Israeli forces had seized eastern and central neighborhoods of Kfar Tebnit amid widespread destruction. Local media said tanks advanced from Kfar Tebnit into Nabatieh al-Fawqa, southeast of Nabatieh city.
Security sources in southern Lebanon said the push toward Nabatieh al-Fawqa aimed to widen Israel’s “fire safety zone” and prevent Hezbollah fighters from launching drones and guided missiles at Israeli armor.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat the expansion was an attempt to push fighters away from the Beaufort Castle area and its surroundings, giving armored vehicles and other military vehicles room to advance toward the heights without being targeted.
The sources said reaching Zafata, a former artillery position used by Israeli forces before their withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, meant the objective was to seize the Ali al-Taher heights, no more than two kilometers from the point reached.
They said taking the hill was a strategic goal for Israeli forces, given their repeated shelling of it in recent months with bunker-buster and concussion bombs, strengthening the belief that Israel seeks to enter underground facilities thought to belong to Hezbollah.
The Israeli army paved the way for the advance overnight Wednesday into Thursday with heavy airstrikes on wooded areas in Jarmaq and Kfar Rumman and on hills overlooking the area, aiming to prevent armor from being hit by guided missiles or drones.
Artillery fire also intensified across the surrounding area, a tactic usually used during attempts to push into new territory.
Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of Qatrani in the Jezzine area near Shbeil School. Warplanes carried out four strikes on the same location.
Artillery also hit Ali al-Taher woods on the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the area around Al-Najdeh Al-Shaabiya Hospital in Nabatieh and the Kfar Rumman roundabout, all close to the incursion points.
Western sector
The incursion coincided with other movements that appeared to test Hezbollah’s defenses in the Mansouri area of the western sector. Two military vehicles were spotted in Mansouri after advancing from Tayr Harfa and Shama, but they quickly turned back.
Hezbollah said in two separate statements that it had targeted gatherings of Israeli vehicles and soldiers with rockets at the Rajman area near Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon.
Local media said Israeli forces tried to advance from the Tayr Harfa-Jebbayn triangle toward the valley, in preparation for entering Majdal Zoun. The move coincided with more than 15 airstrikes on Majdal Zoun and Wadi Hassan, as well as heavy artillery fire.
Heavy clashes broke out overnight Wednesday into Thursday with Hezbollah fighters, who used rocket-propelled grenades and a loitering drone. The fighting forced Israeli forces to retreat and withdraw from the axis along which they had advanced.
Israeli artillery resumed shelling Wadi Hassan and its surroundings on Thursday morning with heavy 155 mm rounds, as warplanes and drones flew intensively over the area.
Continued shelling
In parallel, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building near Hiram Hospital in Tyre killed one person and wounded 17 others, including 10 nurses and hospital employees. Flying glass from shattered windows and doors caused the injuries.
The strike also damaged ceilings in some patient and emergency rooms and window panes, and destroyed cars belonging to doctors and employees in the hospital courtyard.
The Health Ministry’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center said Israeli strikes on Tayr Debba in the Tyre district killed nine people, including a woman, and wounded 10 others.
Operations inside Lebanon
The Israeli army said on Thursday that forces from the 91st Brigade had killed 35 Hezbollah militants over the past week as they moved near Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. It said the forces destroyed a rocket launcher hidden among trees and killed another militant in the area over the past day.
The army also said troops had seized quantities of weapons and ammunition, including rockets and RPG rounds, at various sites during ongoing military operations.
In the morning, the Israeli army said the Home Front Command had issued a precautionary directive after detecting launches from Lebanon toward northern Israel, urging people to enter protected areas when warnings are activated.
