A short drive separates Israel's western Galilee from a Lebanese village harboring terrorist strongholds, where the IDF’s 646th Battalion is gathering massive caches of weapons. A year after the reserve paratroopers defended Kibbutz Be’eri near Gaza, they now find themselves conducting offensive operations in Lebanese villages.
"Last year, on Simchat Torah, we were in defensive mode. Now we're on the offensive," said Col. Elad Shoshan, who became battalion commander just a week before the war began in October 2023. In the past year, Shoshan and his troops fought in Gaza's border region, Jenin, Nur a-Shams, and Rafah.
Yair Kraus with troops from IDF's 646th Battalion
(Video: Yair Kraus)
Most recently, they had been stationed in northern Israel, poised for this moment—to cross the border and restore the peace and security lost to tens of thousands of displaced Israelis. "Just as we defeated the enemy in Gaza, we're here to do the same in the north," Shoshan said. "We're dismantling enormous terror infrastructure, weapons caches beyond comprehension."
Troops who left behind families, careers, and lives now cross into Lebanon to change the situation on the ground. Shoshan noted, “Ultimately, civilians rely on us—this is our army. There's no other military, and they know they can depend on us.”
Across the border, I saw soldiers deeply engaged and surprisingly upbeat. Their mission is difficult and high-risk, yet immensely rewarding. Many sent messages of appreciation to families who celebrated the recent holidays alone, awaiting their return. "Our reservists are both the citizens calling for action and the soldiers executing it," Shoshan said. "They’re here, answering each call, leaving entire lives behind to do their part."
Shoshan, who grew up in the Gaza-adjacent Moshav Yated, has lost friends and comrades in battles over the past year. Among them was Col. Aliim Saad, deputy commander of Brigade 300, who died in an encounter with terrorists that infiltrated Israel from a village near Adamit on October 9, 2023, along with two members of his command team.
“We have unfinished business with Hezbollah,” Shoshan said. "Today, we’ve taken back the village where that cell launched attacks last year. We’re uncovering weaponry stockpiles large enough to arm an entire battalion, stored just 500 meters from our border. Every street and home here was filled with equipment, ready for an attack on Israel. And this is just one of many positions Hezbollah prepared in its planned assault on the Galilee."
Driving through the village paths, soldiers march past houses, securing and neutralizing terror sites. The IDF, now operating with five brigades along Lebanon's border, aims to eliminate Hezbollah’s capabilities, enabling displaced residents in the north to return home only when the threat is eradicated. At a command post, soldiers unload large quantities of weapons and gear uncovered in homes and underground facilities nearby. In recent weeks, they discovered a vast underground complex meant for Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, complete with bunk beds, supplies, weapons, and launch sites abandoned during their retreat.
“Look at what we’ve found in just the past two hours,” Shoshan said, pointing to piles of combat vests packed with grenades and magazines, each labeled with a fighter’s name. “Even in our own reserves, we don’t have vests this fully equipped,” he admitted. Next to the vests lay stacks of kneepads, uniforms, winter gear, tactical helmets, and advanced night vision devices. They also found rocket launchers, shells, anti-tank missiles, machine guns, explosives, and countless rounds of ammunition, some clearly marked as coming from Moscow, Russia.
"In these fortified combat zones Hezbollah built—some just 50 meters from our border—we found fighting trenches and mines ready to be deployed," Shoshan added. "Hezbollah operatives could have approached the border in civilian clothing, armed and ready within minutes."
“I never expected this scale in a small Sunni village,” he said. In some houses, troops were laying explosives for detonation as I crossed back over the border, seeing a massive gray cloud appear in the distance. "To the people of northern Israel, this is how we’re dismantling Hezbollah’s offensive network,” he stated.
In the sky to our south, within Israeli territory, interceptor trails lit up as they countered another rocket barrage from deep inside Lebanon, severely injuring a Nahariya resident. More than 100 rockets had been launched just before the holiday. As I looked up in frustration, Shoshan explained, "We're not here to occupy all of Lebanon. Our mission is to dismantle enemy infrastructure and remove any threat near the border. The IDF has nearly completed this task.”
According to him, “Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders have been neutralized, and their long-range launch capabilities are diminished, but that alone won’t stop the fire from Lebanon. It will require a binding agreement to make clear the consequences of non-compliance. If that fails, the IDF will respond forcefully. We can no longer rely on external enforcement, as we did after 2006. We’ll take full responsibility this time.”
Just before heading home, I met Maj. A, deputy commander of 420th Battalion and resident of Kiryat Shmona. A month ago, at the start of this ground maneuver in Lebanon, I interviewed him near his hometown. “The people here aren’t interested in strategy or tactics; they just want the Hezbollah threat gone—an objective only achieved by pushing in and clearing out,” he had told me then.
Now, with a look of relief, he’s beginning to envision a future where he can persuade his wife and six children to return home after the war. “It’s unbelievable to think that we lived here on a powder keg,” he said. “We thought we were in the safest place, but our home was actually one of the most dangerous in the world. Hezbollah made a grave miscalculation by joining Hamas's attack, pushing the army to intervene. Without this response, we would’ve faced another failed model like Resolution 1701, risking a future surprise attack. Compared to what they had prepared for us here, Hamas was a mere warm-up.”
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