Israel Defense Forces soldiers continue to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure throughout Southern Lebanon, the military announced on Wednesday afternoon, sharing video footage of the nightly raids.
Troops of the IDF’s 91st “Galilee Formation” Division remain deployed along the Lebanese border “with the goal of protecting the security of Israeli citizens and eliminating any threat from within the state’s territory,” according to the statement.
After intelligence led to the discovery of Hezbollah arms depots and other terrorist infrastructure across Southern Lebanon, the soldiers launched “special, targeted operations to dismantle them and prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing itself in the area,” the IDF said.
In one of the raids, at the Jabal Blat peak, opposite the Israeli village of Moshav Zar’it, IDF reservists dismantled a Hezbollah compound with weapon caches and firing positions.
In another operation in the Labbouneh area, opposite the Israeli border town of Shlomi, troops were said to have seized arms including a “multi-barrel launcher, a heavy machine gun and dozens of explosive devices.”
In addition, an underground structure used for storing weapons was discovered in the region—the tunnel was dismantled by engineering forces of the 9th “Oded” Reserve Infantry Brigade.
“The IDF continues to operate in order to eliminate threats against the State of Israel and to prevent attempts by the Hezbollah terror organization to establish a presence, in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF said.
On Nov. 26, 2024, Israel and Lebanon signed a truce that sought to end more than a year of cross-border clashes. Since the deal, the IDF has carried out frequent operations aimed at preventing Hezbollah from reestablishing its presence in Southern Lebanon, violating the truce.
On Monday, during an airstrike in the Deir Kifa region of Southern Lebanon, the IDF eliminated Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar, who was identified as a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force.
According to the military, he was responsible for orchestrating attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, and was involved in the so-called “Conquer the Galilee” plan—a plot by the Iranian proxy to infiltrate Israel, seize territory and capture hostages in the Galilee region.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared on Tuesday that his terrorist group had been “rebuilding, recovering” and was “ready now” to take on the Jewish state in a possible future confrontation.
“If Israel were to attack, we would not stand by and watch—we would fight,” he vowed, adding that while the Israeli army destroyed many of Hezbollah’s weapon depots in Southern Lebanon, “the country is vast.”
U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack told reporters on Monday that Hezbollah “needs to see that there’s a future for them” to accept his roadmap to disarmament, which Beirut had agreed to as part of the ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the Iranian-backed terrorist group “needs to see … that the road is not harnessed solely against them, and that there’s an intersection of peace and prosperity for them also.”
Hezbollah has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. State Department since 1997.
A State Department official subsequently told JNS that “our position has not changed—[Hezbollah] is a designated terrorist organization, and we do not distinguish between its political or armed wings.”
“As Ambassador Barrack said while in Beirut, Lebanon must utilize this moment to make progress, and that includes progress on disarming” Hezbollah’s terrorist army, the American official said to JNS.
Under the terms of the November deal reached with Beirut, Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
