Israeli tanks cross into Lebanon for the first time since 2006 – report

Areas in northern Israel, including Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Gilad, were declared a closed military zone, and entry was prohibited.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

As of 10:30 on Monday night, Al-Arabiya reports that Israeli tanks crossed the border into southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army withdrew from areas in southern Lebanon, and IDF began to open fire.

Areas in northern Israel, including Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Gilad, were declared a closed military zone, and entry was prohibited.

Earlier on Monday, Israel intercepted missiles coming from Lebanon targeting Central Galilee and Haifa Bay.

This occurred after the IAF destroyed a storage area for missile launchers close to the Beirut airport.

In addition, Israel destroyed dozens of terror targets in Lebanon, including command centers, weapons storage facilities, terrorist cells, launchers, and additional terror infrastructure sites.

The Wall Street Journal reported early on Monday that Elite units have been making short intelligence raids for weeks and even months in anticipation of acting on the necessity of permanently removing the Hezbollah terrorist organization from the border via a ground invasion.

Their probes have included terror tunnels built by Hezbollah right up to Israel’s northern border, dug to enable its specialized Radwan force to invade the Galilee much as Hamas did on October 7, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

The fear of such a future invasion has led some 60,000 residents of the north to say that they will refuse to return home until the threat is nullified.

A senior US official told Fox News on Monday that Israel is preparing to launch a “limited” ground war in Lebanon.

The war with Lebanon is expected to be smaller and shorter in duration than in 2006.

Despite US President Joe Biden’s insistence on Sunday that the US would not send more troops into Lebanon, the Pentagon said it would deploy a few thousand soldiers to supplement the US forces already in the region.

The purpose of the deployment is to protect US troops already there and, if necessary, to defend Israel.