Israel on Tuesday (Oct 1) announced it had launched “limited, localised, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, days after assassinating the militant outfit’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
Here are the 10 key points from Israel’s ground raid in Lebanon:
- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the decision to launch ground operation was taken by the political echelon of the country, just hours before the raids started.
- The IDF said the ground raids were ‘limited, localised and targeted’ against Hezbollah terrorist targets, based on precise intelligence available.
- The Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces with precise strikes on military targets in the area.
- The operation, codenamed “Northern Arrows” will continue according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other areas.
- Israel has gone ahead with the ground operation despite US President Joe Biden and other world leaders calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Although, the White House had expected Tel Aviv to launch such a ground incursion.
- The Pentagon earlier said it had put an unspecified number of American troops on prepare-to-deploy orders as Israel engages on the ground in southern Lebanon.
- Prior to launching the ground operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Iran, saying there was no region in West Asia which was out of the country’s reach.
- The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been dealt a hammer blow in recent days by Israel with experts viewing the ground raids as the final step in Tel Aviv’s plan of total demolition of the militant outfit.
- Israeli army had ordered the Lebanese citizens in the capital city of Beirut to evacuate last evening. The military said in order to secure their safety, the citizens needed to go far away from facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah group.
- Hassan Nasrallah’s deputy, Naim Qassem, said on Monday that the group remains ready to fight on the ground.
(With inputs from agencies)