Israel to launch ‘very limited ground invasion’ of Lebanon – report

Israeli troops on border say they’re ready for ground incursion, want to fight to ensure Hezbollah is crushingly defeated.

By World Israel News Staff

A senior U.S. official said that Israel is preparing for a “very limited ground invasion of Lebanon,” following the IDF calling up multiple reserve units and stationing thousands of troops on the northern border.

According to an ABC News report, Jerusalem will soon order troops to enter southern Lebanon, in order to ensure that the region is free of Hezbollah terrorists and facilitate the return of displaced residents of northern Israel to their homes.

A separate, later report from ABC indicated that the IDF may have already begun, or is about to begin, “cross-border movements” on Sunday morning.

Tropps would focus on targeting Hezbollah outposts directly adjacent to the Israel-Lebanon border, clearing the area of terrorists who aim anti-tank missiles and other short-range weaponry at communities and military assets in northern Israel.

20-year-old soldier Lior Papismadov told The Washington Post that Israeli troops “are prepared for” a ground incursion, adding that “we don’t know if it’s going to happen, but we are preparing.”

“Mobilization opens an option,” Assaf Orion, a former IDF head of strategic planning, told the Post. “That allows whoever needs to decide, to take the action — and also sends a signal to the other side that this might be coming.”

Orion said that an incursion would likely start off with intensive bombing of the region, in order to decrease the likelihood that troops on the ground will encounter terrorists.

Then, he said, “you will see the fence opening and forces moving [in.]”

Nati Aroush, a reserve soldier mobilized to northern Israel, told the Post that he is ready to fight “as long as needed.”

Aroush stressed that the soldiers were willing to sacrifice in order to ensure that Hezbollah is decisively defeated.

“We want that it will be finished,” he said. “That there will be quiet. That they won’t have an option to strike back.”