Unlike the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, most of whom fled their positions during the IDF maneuver in the Gaza Strip and shot mainly from afar, Hezbollah operatives remain to fight in blank-range battles with the IDF soldiers, who entered southern Lebanon for limited targeted raids on Monday.
In the first days of the limited operation in southern Lebanon, during which more than 250 terrorists were eliminated, the IDF noticed a recurring pattern among the Hezbollah operatives. The Hezbollah terrorists do not engage the IDF soldiers until they are close and fight in close-range battles. For example, the paratrooper brigade, who were the first to cross the border, reported six point-blank range encounters with Hezbollah terrorists in the first four days of the operation.
In all of these encounters, according to the reports, Hezbollah was defeated and its operatives were eliminated, despite having lost some soldiers and others sustaining injuries. The Hezbollah squads are quite small, ranging from one to a few terrorists in each cell. On Thursday, for example, in another encounter by one of the forces, a terrorist hid in a building and opened fire at soldiers who entered to search it. The soldiers use drones to locate and attack the terrorists instead of risking themselves.
In the case of the late Captain Ben Zion Falach, the paratroopers realized quickly, as part of their extensive experience in Gaza, that the terrorists were operating from a combat complex integrated into a tunnel shaft. That prompted the IDF to destroy the complex with engineering means. The soldiers also noticed that the Hezbollah operatives only act if they see soldiers approaching.
The IDF's attacks in the region have severely damaged Hezbollah's supply lines and combat capabilities. For example, the IDF destroyed the regional headquarters in the Bint Jbeil Municipality building during the holiday which shows the terror organization's initial signs of erosion. Despite Hezbollah's forces being diminished and its infrastructure damaged, its operatives managed to fire a barrage of mortar bombs at the troops in one of the neighboring villages. There were no casualties to the IDF forces in this incident.
Hezbollah's great losses accumulating the last year in IDF airstrikes, the pager and communication device explosions and the recent limited raid, prove to be weighing the terrorist organization down. However, the IDF's objective in the southern Lebanon villages is to rid the area of Hezbollah and allow the northern residents to return home eventually.
Earlier, the IDF spokesperson informed that during the last four days of operations in southern Lebanon, more than 250 terrorists were eliminated, including 21 commanders. According to his statement, the 250 operatives included five battalion commanders, ten company commanders, and six department commanders. In addition, the IDF estimates that the entire southern Lebanon population evacuated and about 600 thousand left and arrived north of the Litani river.
The IDF continues to operate in southern Lebanon which combines air activity alongside limited targeted raids with tanks and artillery. The IDF added that during the operation, the forces eliminated terrorists entrenched in buildings adjacent to the fence, located and destroyed weapon caches, launchers ready for launch, and Hezbollah IEDs that were left behind.
Since the beginning of the operation in southern Lebanon, eleven IDF soldiers have been killed in combat. The eleven soldiers are: Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, Sergeant First Class Or Mantzur, Staff Sergent Almken Terefe, Staff Sergent Ido Broyer, Captain Itai Ariel Giat, Sergeant First Class Noam Barzilay, Captain Harel Etinger, Sergeant First Class Nazar Itkin, Captain Ben Zion Falach, Corporal Tal Dror, and Sergeant Daniel Aviv Haim Sofer.
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