At the height of the escalation in southern Lebanon, the town of Bint Jbeil stands out as a center of field attention, as Israeli media circulate news of a complete siege of the town, while field developments indicate a battle that is still ongoing, which shows the discrepancy between the military narrative and the field reality.
According to a report by journalist Avi Ashkenazi in the Israeli newspaper “Maariv”, under the title “Bint Jbeil is burning: Hezbollah’s legendary stronghold on the path to final collapse,” the Israeli army announced the completion of the encirclement of the town through the forces of the 98th Division and the Paratroopers Brigade, considering it one of the most important strongholds of “Hezbollah” in southern Lebanon.
The report indicated that “a few hundred” of the party’s fighters, including members of the “Radwan Force,” are still inside the town under severe siege, amid intense air strikes by the Israeli Air Force, with options that the Israeli source described as limited to “surrender or death.”
At the field level, the report states that paratrooper forces are stationed on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil, and are preparing to storm it soon, while in recent hours the Israeli army has intensified the pace of air strikes to support ground forces.
On the other hand, a Lebanese security source said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the Israeli army closed all the main entrances leading to the town, and confirmed the continuation of clashes on various axes, and the use of warplanes and artillery, in addition to other weapons.
Despite this military pressure, the same report acknowledges that Israeli forces have not yet been able to control key sites inside Bint Jbeil, reflecting the complexity of the battle and the nature of the confrontation within a town considered to be of symbolic importance in the context of the conflict with Hezbollah.
Maariv had previously reported that there were between tens and a few hundred of the party’s fighters inside the town, after it had strengthened its presence there and in a number of its neighborhoods over the past year and a half, with Israeli estimates of the presence of large quantities of weapons and preparations for a defensive battle.
In this context, the report quoted an Israeli source as saying in a direct message to Hezbollah fighters: “They have no choice but to surrender or die,” while Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir conducted a field tour on Friday to assess the readiness of the forces, considering that operations in Lebanon are “deepening” and that what has been achieved so far are “historic achievements.”
In conclusion, between the Israeli statements that speak of an “imminent collapse,” and the field facts that indicate a battle that has not yet been resolved, Bint Jbeil remains an open area of conflict, carrying within it important indicators of the course of the confrontation in southern Lebanon.
