JERUSALEM: Israel’s army mentioned on Wednesday (Jul 9) its troops entered southern Lebanon as a part of focused operations to dismantle infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
“Following intelligence info and the identification of Hezbollah weapons and terrorist infrastructure in a number of areas of southern Lebanon, the troopers launched particular, focused operations to dismantle them and stop Hezbollah from reestablishing itself within the space,” a military assertion mentioned.
The army didn’t instantly reply to an AFP request for touch upon whether or not this was the primary time Israeli troops had operated on the bottom in Lebanon since a November ceasefire.
However the military shared a video captioned “footage from a focused nighttime operation of the ninth Brigade in southern Lebanon”, displaying troops strolling on the bottom.
AFP was unable to confirm the footage, the time or location it was shot.
The military assertion mentioned the ninth Brigade was within the Labbouneh space, simply over the border. Troops from the three hundredth Brigade operated within the Jabal Blat space additional west, additionally nearby of the frontier.
Regardless of a November truce with Hezbollah, Israel has stored up its strikes on Lebanon, primarily saying it’s focusing on the group’s websites and operatives but in addition sometimes members of their Palestinian ally Hamas.
The Nov 27 ceasefire sought to finish greater than a yr of hostilities with Hezbollah, together with two months of all-out battle that left the group severely weakened.
Beneath the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to tug its fighters again north of the Litani river, about 30km from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese military and United Nations peacekeepers as the one armed events within the area.
Israel was required to completely withdraw its troops from the nation however has stored them in 5 locations it deems strategic.
