Israel starts ground operation in Lebanon

The IDF says it has begun “limited and targeted” moves against Hezbollah strongholds in order to protect residents of northern Israel

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has announced that its troops launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon on Monday. The operations are said to be aimed at increasing security for residents of northern Israel. 

In a statement on X, the IDF explained that the “limited and targeted ground operations against key Hezbollah strongholds” are “part of broader defensive efforts to establish and strengthen a forward defensive posture, which includes the dismantling of terrorist infrastructure and the elimination of terrorists operating in the area.” 

The Israeli military noted that prior to the entry of its ground troops into the area, it carried out artillery and airstrikes against “numerous terrorist targets in order to mitigate threats in the operational environment.”

Israel has launched numerous airstrikes on Lebanon over the past weeks in retaliation for Hezbollah’s rocket launches. The militant movement, in turn, was responding to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes late last month. 

Israel’s bombing of Lebanon has included strikes on residential districts, as well as the headquarters of the Ghana Battalion in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and a Russian cultural center in the southern city of Nabatieh. 

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Over 800 civilians are believed to have been killed in the Israeli attacks, including over 100 children, according to the Lebanese authorities. The country’s health ministry also stated that at least 31 health professionals have been killed and 51 wounded since March 2. It said the IDF has carried out over 37 attacks against emergency medical workers in Lebanon.

The Israeli strikes on Lebanon have sparked international condemnation, including in the Vatican, where Pope Leo XIV has raised “great concern” over the attacks, stressing that “violence can never lead to justice, stability and peace.”

Moscow condemned the bombing of its cultural center as an “unprovoked act of aggression” by Israel, stressing that the facility “was not involved in any military activity” and that the strike was unjustifiable.

UN experts have also blasted Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, calling them a “flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international humanitarian law and human rights law,” calling on the IDF to cease its attacks “immediately.”