The Israeli military said Monday that its forces had launched limited ground operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, opening a new phase of fighting along the border.
The move escalates the conflict even as talks may be taking shape to stop the war. Reuters reported Sunday, citing two Israeli officials, that Tel Aviv and Beirut could hold talks in the coming days aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire that would include Hezbollah’s disarmament.
According to the same officials, Lebanon is working to form a negotiating delegation, though no official date has been set.
Israel’s public broadcaster said the government was preparing to seek Knesset approval to mobilize as many as 450,000 reserve soldiers, based on a recommendation from the military and security establishment, to boost readiness amid rapid developments on the northern front.
The Israeli military said the ground operations are aimed at expanding the “forward defense zone” along the northern border and strengthening protection for Israeli towns near the frontier.
Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, said in a post on X that the 91st Division had begun what he described as “specific ground activity” targeting key positions in southern Lebanon. He said the operation was intended to entrench a “forward defense zone.”
Adraee said the operations include “destroying terrorist infrastructure and eliminating terrorist operatives working in the area,” adding that artillery and the air force had carried out preemptive strikes before ground troops entered, targeting sites he said belonged to Hezbollah. He added that the 91st Division was also defending towns in the Galilee in coordination with the 146th Division.
In a related development, the Israeli military said early Monday it had carried out airstrikes targeting infrastructure it said belonged to Hezbollah in Beirut, after earlier issuing evacuation warnings for several neighborhoods in the city’s southern suburbs.
The fighting marks a new escalation in a conflict that resumed in early March. Israel and Hezbollah had reached a ceasefire agreement in November 2024 to end the war that began in October 2023. That agreement saw numerous violations by the Israeli military of Lebanese sovereignty through repeated airstrikes justified as targeting “Hezbollah terrorists.”
