Alerting Hezbollah to imminent invasion would be strange tactic from Israel – but it won’t have gone unnoticed
Remarks by the IDF’s chief of staff to Israeli forces on the northern border have given the impression a ground invasion of Lebanon could be close.
“Your military boots will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts,” Lt General Herzi Halevi told troops.
“Your entry into those areas with force, your encounter with Hezbollah operatives, will show them what it means to face a professional, highly skilled and battle experienced force.”
Follow latest: ‘We are striking Lebanon to prepare for possible invasion’
It might sound like an eve of war speech, but there are signs the order to move is yet to come.
Openly alerting Hezbollah to an imminent invasion would be a strange tactic but Halevi’s statement won’t have gone unnoticed north of the border.
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IDF preparing Lebanon ground invasion
In war, words can be as powerful as any weapon.
Over recent days, Israeli fighter jets have taken out senior Hezbollah commanders, weapons stockpiles and infrastructure.
All this degrades Hezbollah’s ability to fight and softens the enemy ahead of an invasion, were one ordered. It is a common military tactic in the opening days of war.
Red dots indicate Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Source: Institute for the Study of War
The call-up of two reserve brigades today is also a logical step if a ground invasion is coming – they will provide support and backup to the divisions already positioned on the border.
Israel has had a very successful eight days in the air, but Hezbollah continues to fire missiles deep into Israel, targeting the Tel Aviv area for the first time today, and so other options of escalation are being considered.
Although a ground invasion would be the last resort, we are nearing that moment if the situation doesn’t change because, if nothing else, Israel now has fewer cards to play.
As I write, Benjamin Netanyahu is still due to travel to New York on Thursday to address the UN General Assembly, but someone in his office told me earlier that travel plans are changing hour by hour as the situation develops.
Would he leave the country if the army is about to enter Lebanon? Unlikely.
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If he does take off for the US east coast, he will use the trip to speak in private with allies and use the UN platform to remind the world what happened on 7 October.
There are finally early signs this evening of some diplomatic movement – President Biden is reportedly close to delivering a proposal for a pause in the fighting.
It could be published as soon as tonight, however, given the US’s track record of late, expectations of a ceasefire are low.
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That said, Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed his close ally Ron Dermer to inform the White House that Israel is willing to listen.
That could be genuine but Netanyahu probably expects Hezbollah to reject any offer, so it might also be a tactic to give a future ground invasion more legitimacy if Israel can argue that Hezbollah turned down offers to talk.
We can say with some certainty that Israel has approved plans for an invasion of Lebanon and Israel’s forces are poised for the order to move, but we don’t know when that order will come – if at all.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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