IDF poised for offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon city; soldier moderately injured by drone

Military officials says army covertly moved armor and troops into position to attack terror group stronghold of Nabatieh; Netanyahu vows to restore northern security

The Israel Defense Forces is poised to launch an offensive against Hezbollah in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, one of the terror group’s strongholds, an IDF official said Thursday.

The senior officer’s announcement came as one of the terror group’s drones moderately injured an IDF soldier in south Lebanon.

Israel has recently stepped up its offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah amid anger in northern Israel that months of fighting have not brought quiet to border communities that face rocket and drone attacks.

The IDF’s 36th Division pushed deeper into southern Lebanon in recent days and is now operating on the outskirts of Arnoun, a village just a few kilometers from Nabatieh, according to the senior officer.

According to the military official, who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity, the division conducted clandestine operations along the Litani River ahead of the push, building a new bridge to cross the waterway in a valley that was not under surveillance by the terror group. Once the bridge was built, armored vehicles were able to cross and quickly advance northward undetected.

Nabatieh is northwest of Beaufort Castle, which the IDF retook late last month after evacuating it 26 years ago.

The official said that depending on the decisions of Israeli leaders, the division could advance further north, into Nabatieh, or alternatively head west and continue operations against the terror group along the Litani River.

“Hezbollah is retreating, but it is holding on to the Nabatieh line, where it really wants to prevent our occupation,” the official said, adding that the goal of either operation would be to further weaken Hezbollah.

The IDF also said on Thursday that it carried out a raid in the Wadi Saluki stream area to draw Hezbollah’s attention there, with the push catching the group by surprise.

In an official statement, the military said it achieved “operational control” over the Wadi Saluki stream area, around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.

Troops of the 7th Armored Brigade and Egoz Commando Unit “completed an operation to achieve operational control and clear the area north of the Saluki stream” of Hezbollah infrastructure, the IDF said.

The IDF said the operation is part of its efforts “to strengthen operational control in southern Lebanon and remove the direct threat to the [Israeli border] communities of the Galilee Panhandle and Metula.”

“The Saluki stream area is used by the Hezbollah terror organization as infrastructure for operating explosive drones and carrying out rocket fire against IDF troops operating in the area,” the military said.

During the operation, the ground troops and the Israeli Air Force struck and destroyed hundreds of Hezbollah sites and killed over 50 members of the terror group, the IDF said, adding that troops also captured weapons, including anti-tank missiles and explosives.

Soldier wounded by explosive drone

Earlier, the military said an IDF soldier was moderately injured by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The IDF said the servicewoman, who serves in the Artillery Corps, was taken to a hospital for treatment, and her family was notified.

Israel has struggled to fend off growing attacks on troops in southern Lebanon and northern Israel by Hezbollah’s first-person view drones, which are largely impervious to jamming technology. The terror group has also fired rockets and other types of UAVs, hitting both military and civilian targets.

The senior officer who spoke about Nabatieh noted that Hezbollah drone attacks were still a key challenge for the military, but said there had been a decline in the number of successful attacks on troops in recent days.

“We have introduced ammunition that should make this easier and we have good interception rates,” the official said.

He said that troops had found fiber-optic cable-guided FPV drones with large spools of cable, enabling ranges of 15 and 20 kilometers (roughly nine and 12 miles).

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli strikes on Thursday targeted several areas in southern Lebanon and a village in the Baalbek region in the east, far from the Israeli border.

A strike wounded 10 staff members of a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tyre on Thursday, the facility’s director told AFP.

“An area located around 15 meters [50 feet] from the hospital was targeted, and 10 members of the medical and administrative staff were wounded,” said Dr Salman Aydibi, who runs Hiram hospital.

He said the strike shattered windows and damaged cars parked in front of the facility.

“This is the sixth time that the area of the hospital has been targeted by Israeli raids since the start of the war,” he said.

In response to a query, the military said it was unaware of any Israeli strikes in the area at that time.

Also, after sirens sounded in northern towns, the IDF said that two rockets fired by Hezbollah impacted in an area near where troops are operating in southern Lebanon.

In another clash, the IDF reported it killed several Hezbollah operatives who tried to flee from a major tunnel system near Beaufort Castle.

Several days ago, a drone piloted by commandos of the Egoz unit identified Hezbollah operatives inside one of the tunnel routes. Footage published by the IDF shows one of the Hezbollah gunmen firing on the drone.

The military said that as the operatives fled out of the tunnel, the Israeli Air Force struck and killed them.

Netanyahu vows to restore northern security

Speaking at a special cabinet meeting in the Galilee city of Nof HaGalil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the ongoing challenge posed by Hezbollah attack drones.

“We are striking Hezbollah very hard, eliminating hundreds of terrorists every week,” he said at the start of the meeting. “We still have more challenges. A particular challenge is drones. We are working on it.”

“We will restore security to the north and create security in the north just as we did in the south,” Netanyahu promised. “People did not believe us when we said the south would recover and prosper — they said it was boastful talk, an empty promise. Today, they can see the results.”

Netanyahu was referring to damage caused by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

Hezbollah and Israel also fought a conflict after October 7, when the Iran-backed terror group began firing missiles across the border following the attack.

The current bout of conflict began when Hezbollah started attacking northern Israel with rockets and drones in support of Iran days after the US and Israel launched the war with the Islamic Republic in late February.

An April ceasefire in Lebanon collapsed, and the fighting has continued despite a new conditional truce deal announced last week after Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington.

Iran insists that Lebanon must be part of any agreement to end the wider Middle East war.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, said on Thursday that all parties in the conflict “must work towards a diplomatic settlement that fully respects the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon.”

In a post on X , Guterres added that there must be a comprehensive ceasefire and said he “fully” supports a monopoly on weapons by the Lebanese government.