Israel preparing for ground incursion into Lebanon

Israel is preparing to expand the campaign in Lebanon, including the possibility of a ground incursion, an Israeli security source told the Saudi channel Al-Hadath. Since the Hezbollah terror group violated a November 2024 ceasefire early Monday morning, the IAF has struck in Beirut and in approximately 30 towns in southern Lebanon. Lebanese reports indicate 31 fatalities and 150 wounded. Overnight, senior Hezbollah officials were targeted in the Beirut area, along with a key Hezbollah terrorist in southern Lebanon. According to reports, the head of Hezbollah’s faction in the Lebanese parliament, Mohammad Raad, who served as deputy leader of the organization, was eliminated in the strikes.

Earlier on Monday morning, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned, "The Hezbollah terrorist organization will pay a heavy price for firing toward Israel, and Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, who decided on the launch under Iranian pressure, is now a marked target for elimination. Whoever follows in Khamenei’s path will soon find himself alongside him in the depths of hell with the rest of the eliminated members of the axis of evil. We will not return to the rules of engagement that existed before October 7 and will defend the residents of the north and all citizens of the State of Israel with full force."

Katz added, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to act forcefully against Hezbollah, while continuing to carry out the primary objective: crushing and defeating the Iranian terrorist regime and neutralizing its capabilities in Operation Roaring Lion, in order to remove the threats over the State of Israel and enable the citizens of Iran to rise up against it and overthrow it." (Ed note: Might that "possibility of a ground incursion" include such cities as Gebal, now called Jbeil, Sidon and Tyre as found in Psalm 83?) (Source)