The IDF states it has initiated “limited and targeted” actions against Hezbollah strongholds to safeguard residents in northern Israel
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared that its troops commenced a ground offensive against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon on Monday. These operations are reported to aim at enhancing security for residents in northern Israel.
In a post on X, the IDF clarified that the “limited and targeted ground operations against key Hezbollah strongholds” form “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 pointed out that before its ground troops entered the area, it conducted artillery and air raids against “numerous terrorist targets in order to mitigate threats in the operational environment.”
Over the past several weeks, Israel has carried out numerous air attacks on Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s rocket fire. The militant group, in return, was reacting to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes at the end of last month.
Israel’s bombings in Lebanon have targeted residential areas, along with the headquarters of the Ghana Battalion within the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and a Russian cultural center in the southern city of Nabatieh.
Lebanese authorities estimate that more than 800 civilians—including over 100 children—have died in Israeli attacks. The country’s health ministry also reported that at least 31 healthcare workers have been killed and 51 injured since March 2, adding that the IDF has launched over 37 attacks on emergency medical personnel in Lebanon.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon have drawn international criticism, including from 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 denounced the bombing of its cultural center as an “unprovoked act of aggression” by Israel, highlighting that the facility “was not involved in any military activity” and that the strike was unjustifiable.
UN experts have also criticized Israel’s strikes on Lebanon harshly, calling them a “flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international humanitarian law and human rights law,” and urging the IDF to cease its attacks “immediately.”