Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon uncovered Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, rocket launchers, operational tunnel shafts and intelligence documents in civilian homes, the Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed terror group continued firing barrages of rockets at the Galilee.
Based on intelligence, soldiers of Israel’s Golani Brigade raided specific homes, eliminating terrorists and dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
“This serves as further proof of Hezbollah’s cynical use of civilian infrastructure for its terrorist activities, which endangers the residents of southern Lebanon,” the IDF said.
Sarit Zahavi, president and founder of the Alma Research Center, told The Press Service of Israel in August that Hezbollah doctrine makes extensive use of civilian homes.
“Hezbollah stores their weapons everywhere, both between villages and within the villages themselves,” she said.
“By and large, every third house in the Shi’ite villages of south Lebanon is used in some way by Hezbollah for military purposes, be it weapons storage, the entrance of a tunnel, or a launchpad for shooting rockets at Israel,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the military said at least 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Saturday. The army said most were intercepted or landed in open areas.
After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities, killing 49 people. According to figures released by the government on Sept. 29, more than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.
Israel’s war goals include securely returning northern residents to their homes.
Israeli officials demand Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006. This includes all areas south of the Litani River such as the cities of Nabatieh and Tyre, as well as the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.
