Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli special forces cross into Lebanon
30 September 2024 1:06pm
Israeli commandos have conducted special forces raids in Lebanon ahead of a possible ground invasion that could come as soon as this week.
An Israeli official told the Telegraph that elite troops were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push the militants away from the Israeli border.
“They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,” the official said.
Israel is moving quickly in the wake of its assassination of Hassan Nasrallah in an attempt to leverage its advantage, an Israeli intelligence source told the Telegraph.
“The question now is what the US will do, and I just hope the US doesn’t get involved and pull us back,” the source added.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the commando raids included entering Hezbollah’s tunnels and that a ground incursion was imminent.
Israel carried out raids against Hamas in the Gaza Strip two weeks before its full-scale invasion of the territory in late October 2023.
Israel’s prime minister is not just on a military roll at the moment but a political one too.
This morning the opposition New Hope party joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile governing coalition, boosting the number of seats it holds in the 120 seat Knesset from 64 to 68.
A gain of four may not seem much but it removes the possibility of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir collapsing the government and forcing fresh elections by walking out.
Ben Gvir’s extremist anti-Arab party holds six seats and has repeatedly threatened to bring down Netanyahu over proposed military and humanitarian compromises in Gaza, the West Bank and most recently Lebanon.
New Hope is led by Gideon Sa’ar, a long time critic of Netanyahu, who has seemingly buried the hatchet to join the coalition minister without portfolio.
Sa’ar said it was “important to strengthen Israel, its government, and its unity and cohesion” during these “difficult and challenging days” and was “the patriotic and right thing to do now”.
Netanyahu’s poll ratings are close to an all time high and have been improving ever since he started taking the fight to Iran and its proxies in April with a strike on its consulate in Damascus.
The killing at the weekend of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah has further distracted attention from the security failures that led to the Oct 7 massacre nearly a year ago on the prime minister’s watch.