Nazir Reda – Middle East
The Israeli army resumed its attacks to expand its field control in southern Lebanon, for the first time since the ceasefire agreement entered into force. Since Sunday, it launched two separate attacks to advance towards the eastern town of Zawtar, through attempts to cross the Litani River towards its north, according to what security sources in southern Lebanon told Asharq Al-Awsat, amid violent air strikes and artillery shelling that intensively targeted the Nabatieh area.
The intensity of aerial and artillery bombardment has escalated since Saturday on the villages of Nabatieh district, coinciding with evacuation warnings for those towns that have heights overlooking the area designated by the “yellow line” drawn by the Israeli forces in the south. The bombing was mainly focused on the villages of Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Zawtar al-Gharbiya, Arnoun, Yahmar, Mifdoun, and Shokin, which are high-altitude villages located to the south and southeast of the city.
Preparing to cross the Litani
The sources said that the bombing operations appeared to be a prelude to an attempt to cross the Litani River to advance towards the town of Zawtar. In an attempt to control it, which is one of four towns located north of the Litani, it was included in the yellow line that the Israeli forces announced three weeks ago.
Attempts to cross the Litani began last month, when Hezbollah announced an ambush targeting Israeli forces on the Litani River, and published pictures of bulldozers and water transport equipment in the area.
The sources said that the attempts to advance were launched from the Deir Suryan area, which is located south of the Litani and has been under the control of Israeli forces since last month, noting that Deir Suryan is located directly on the southern bank of the Litani River, and is 8 kilometers away from the Israeli border.
Hezbollah’s successive statements since Sunday have reinforced estimates of the Israeli attempts, as they talked about launching missile salvos towards Israeli gatherings and vehicles on the outskirts of Khallet al-Raj in the town of Deir Sarayan, which is the valley separating the two banks of the Litani River in the region. The party’s media also talked about an ambush prepared by the fighters for an Israeli force that was advancing on the outskirts of Zawtar, and it also talked about confronting Israeli forces in that valley.
Resuming the incursion
The progress at this point represents the first attempt at Israeli expansion into Lebanese territory since the ceasefire three weeks ago. The Israeli incursion into the Lebanese interior was suspended, even in the non-occupied towns located within the Yellow Line, in what appeared to be a “change in priorities,” according to what those who follow the Israeli movements say, as the Israeli forces were busy booby-trapping and blowing up homes and facilities in the villages they had tightly controlled, while Hezbollah’s marches increased the complications facing attempts at additional ground advance in the areas still under control. Its fighters reside there or on its outskirts.
The town of Zawtar, which is included on the “Yellow Line” map, is the lowest slope among the slopes of other villages north of the Litani, which Israel intends to annex to the Yellow Line. Military experts say that ascending to it will allow the Israeli army to reach the towns of Yahmar and Arnoun, which are located at a high altitude and overlook the towns of Taybeh, Derisyan, Deir Mimas, and other towns further inland that are classified as within the yellow line. Experts say that controlling Zawtar Sharqiya “will relieve the Israeli forces from the task of taking the Litani Line between Al-Khardali and Kafr Benit, to reach Yahmar, Arnoun, and Beaufort Castle.” They add that the task of reaching it is “very complex and difficult, so attempts are being made to circumvent it from the southeast.”
Raids and targeting
Hezbollah said, in successive statements on Tuesday, that its fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli army vehicles at the outskirts of Khallet al-Raj in the town of Deir Saryan with a missile, and achieved direct hits. He also announced that an Israeli D9 bulldozer had been targeted with an attack helicopter in the same area. He pointed out, in another statement, that an Israeli army Numira vehicle that was working to tow the targeted D9 bulldozer in the Khallet Raj area in the town of Deir Saryan was targeted with an attack aircraft.
At the same time, Israeli aircraft continued their raids on large areas in southern Lebanon, targeting more than 20 sites, including towns whose residents had been asked to evacuate in advance, while the Israeli army issued warnings to residents of the villages of Jabshit and Srifa to leave their homes in preparation for new strikes. The raids targeted the towns of Zawtar, Shokin, Jebshit, Habbouch, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa, Zibdin and Mifdoun, while in the western sector, the raids targeted the towns of Majdal, Al-Haniya and Al-Qalila, while the raids targeted the towns of Tibnine and Kafra in the Bint Jbeil district. The bombing of homes was also recorded in the towns of Ainatha and Al-Bayyada, which Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli forces and their military vehicles, eight times within hours. It also said it targeted an Israeli helicopter with a surface-to-air missile in the airspace of the town.
70 drones
In a shift in the combat tools in this battle, the Israeli army said that 70 explosive drones belonging to Hezbollah have targeted the Israeli army since the ceasefire in Lebanon, 11 of which resulted in deaths and injuries among the forces. He added, “Two of them penetrated Israeli territory and wounded fighters inside.”
Israeli Army Radio indicated on Tuesday that “the data behind the truce with Hezbollah prove that there is no ceasefire in Lebanon.” In the same report, it spoke of the killing of about 200 Hezbollah members by Israeli army fire in southern Lebanon, by air and by land.
The Israeli Air Force launched attacks on about 500 targets since the ceasefire, all of them in southern Lebanon, with the exception of one target in the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon.
