Little more than a year ago, Israel faced a dilemma on its northern border, beyond the hovering threat that had occupied its defense leaders for the previous two decades. The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah had erected two tents inside of Israeli territory, which Israel was determined to see removed.
But it was equally determined to avoid a war with Hezbollah, which — Israel assumed — would rain thousands of rockets down on the country every day. Israel was as deterred as it hoped the powerful Iran-backed army was.
The tents remained for months, as Israel rather flaccidly sent a message to Hezbollah through UN peacekeepers asking them to remove the structures. Some officials in Israel pushed for the use of force, but in the end, diplomatic moves combined with vague verbal threats seemed to finally convince Hezbollah to pull back.
Now, after Hamas’s October 7 attacks — and a year of rocket and anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah, Israel’s mood has changed dramatically, as has the balance of power. Ten days into the IDF ground operation in Lebanon, it’s hard to fathom that Israel recently treated Hezbollah as an adversary that it needs to tiptoe around.
On Thursday, the IDF for the first time brought Israeli journalists into a village in southern Lebanon, a clear indication that it feels it has asserted operational control over the area.
Other signs of the new reality abound. Israel has cut a series of openings into the border fence for IDF vehicles to cross into Lebanon, and the gaps are now entirely unguarded. It brought the journalists into enemy territory in open Hummers, with no fear of snipers or mines.
And the reserve soldiers from the 8207th Battalion of the 91st Division’s “Alon” Brigade who were stationed inside the Shi’a village seemed relaxed and happy, eager to pose for pictures or lightheartedly berate the journalists for spreading negativity.
Hezbollah certainly has some fight left. A soldier from the battalion was seriously hurt Wednesday, and eight were lightly hurt the day before. The IDF announced this morning that Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ronny Ganizate of the Alon Brigade’s 5030th Battalion was killed and another reservist seriously hurt.
But it’s far from the organized, highly professional defense that many expected. Soldiers said they faced uncoordinated attacks by small cells, which are inevitably eliminated. Soldiers in another brigade told The Times of Israel that the remaining Hezbollah fighters in their sector are mostly dispirited, though they mount the periodic ambush.
Much of the degradation of Hezbollah’s forces along the border was achieved over the last year, as the IDF used artillery and airstrikes to target enemy positions in nearby Lebanese villages. The IDF also carried out dozens of quiet raids to further reduce Hezbollah’s capabilities.
Under pressure, the elite Radwan force that was trained to invade northern Israel pulled away from the border.
And in recent weeks, Israel has revved up its fight against Hezbollah into another gear. With cold-blooded creativity, a relentless series of IDF (and likely Mossad) attacks ravaged the terror group’s senior leadership and reduced its rocket arsenal.
Driving along the border with Lebanon now, the fence that was designed to slow Hezbollah down in the event of an attempted invasion seems nothing less than pathetic, a rusty testament to how badly Israel underestimated its adversaries until 6:29 a.m. on October 7. The barbed wire coils and the blue UN barrels warning against crossing the demarcation line would have done nothing to slow thousands of Radwan fighters from pouring across into the kibbutzim and army bases nearby.
IDF soldiers in Lebanon have uncovered Hezbollah preparations for that very scenario.
“This village is a fortified position,” said Alon Brigade commander Col. Yaniv Malka, standing inside what was a small, one-story structure. “There is not a single building in all this village, unfortunately, where we didn’t find some kind of munition or piece of intelligence.”
That house held well-maintained military equipment for two Hezbollah fighters, including a stash of rockets. In a nearby field, troops found launchers aimed at the Israeli border community of Avivim.
“All the buildings around it are just like this, but on steroids,” said Malka.
On Tuesday night, Battalion 8207 found a much larger cache in a house a hundred yards away. They were ambushed as they took the house, resulting in eight wounded.
The house had three rooms packed with mortar shells, Kalashnikov rifles, RPGs, hand grenades, rain suits and Kevlar vests. A Dragunov sniper rifle and PK machine gun lay in cases in one of the rooms, which is now missing its back wall.
“An operative comes south in jeans and sandals,” said 91st Division commander Brig. Gen. Shai Klepper, “reaches here, gets equipment, gets a map, gets the plan that he had prepared for, and knows how to invade.”
The preparation was meticulous. His soldiers found notebooks detailing regular inspections of the sites by Hezbollah officials going back five years.
After nearly a year of playing defense — “like a caged lion,” in the words of one officer — the 91st Division is finally on the offensive, using the full spectrum of its capabilities and putting its plans into motion. And it is determined to make sure Hezbollah’s years of preparation go to waste.
“We will destroy every house that had munitions in them,” said Malka. “Period. We live not leave two stones on top of each other in any house that weapons were in.”
“We are taking away Hezbollah’s ability to fire at northern Israel.
