Israel has informed the United States of its intention to launch a ground operation in Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah terror infrastructure, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed on Monday.
“We have been engaged in conversations with them about those operations, but the timing, purpose, tempo of those—I’ll let them speak to,” the spokesman told reporters during a press briefing in Washington.
Miller’s confirmation came shortly after the Israel Defense Forces declared three northern border communities a closed military zone.
Civilians are “strictly prohibited” from entering Metula, Kibbutz Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, all located in the Galilee panhandle, the IDF said.
The order, which was signed by IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, expires on Sunday, Oct. 6, unless extended by the military.
Meanwhile, soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces have been withdrawing from positions on the southern border with Israel, local residents and a Lebanese “security source” told Reuters. LAF troops were said to have pulled back at least three miles from the frontier.
Arab media on Monday night reported heavy IDF shelling towards the Lebanese border towns of al-Wazzani, Khiam, Kafr Kila and Odaisseh.
Earlier on Monday, the IDF announced that Gordin, together with the commanders of three divisions, approved “plans for the days to come.”
The military said that in recent days, its 188th Armored Brigade carried out exercises near the Lebanese border, while local security squads also held training drills simulating “various scenarios” in border towns.
According to a report in The Washington Post on Monday, Israel told the United States that a limited ground invasion could start “imminently.”
The campaign would be smaller than the 2006 Second Lebanon War and would focus on clearing out terrorist infrastructure along the border to remove the threat to Israel’s frontier, a U.S. official told the newspaper.
CBS News subsequently cited an American official who said the ground incursion into Lebanese territory could be launched “within hours.”
Israel’s Security Cabinet, which is responsible for defense-related decisions and composed of senior government ministers, was set to meet on Monday night at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
