In historic first, female combat soldiers deployed in Lebanon

Their roles included intelligence gathering, identifying terrorist threats, and directing fire for ground and air forces.

By Vered Weiss

The IDF deployed female combat soldiers into Lebanon for the first time, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Northern Command chief Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin approved the deployment several weeks ago.

The women served as members of a combat intelligence team stationed near the Syrian border in the Mount Dov region.

Their roles included intelligence gathering, identifying terrorist threats, and directing fire for ground and air forces.

The Jerusalem Post interviewed several female soldiers, including Corporal Tehila, 21, from the Eit Battalion.

“Southern Lebanon? We went in on foot. How much weight did we carry? Too much,” she said with a laugh. “Around 40% of our body weight. We were preparing for a long ambush.”

Corporal Shani, 20, described the mission in detail, “We walked about 1.5 kilometers into Lebanon, established a position in the field, maintained camouflage, and began intelligence collection using observation tools. Operationally, we entered areas untouched by Israeli forces since the Second Lebanon War.”

The soldiers provided valuable intelligence, including locating key terrorists hiding in buildings and details about anti-tank missile sites.

The soldiers described how they guided an operation based on photographs that provided precise information about crucial locations and targets.

In addition, their images allowed other soldiers to find weapons that were embedded within civilian areas.

The team was behind enemy lines for 24 hours close to a location known to have a high concentration of Hezbollah terrorists. A fire broke out in the area and forced their evacuation.

The soldiers focused mainly on concealing their positions and gathering intelligence, which provided a significant challenge.

During the Israeli airstrike on Iran, four female pilots played a pivotal role in assisting the IAF in hitting crucial targets.

The operation involved F-15 and F-16 fighter jets departing from Israel, and four female navigators from the Israeli Air Force (IAF) played a pivotal role in the historic mission.