Israel intensifies Lebanon ground attacks despite diplomatic push to end war

Ground clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border have intensified in strategic positions as Israel vows to negotiate 'under fire'

A military vehicle damaged in an Israeli air strike on a Lebanese Army post in Amiriya, southern Lebanon, on November 24. AFP

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A Lebanese soldier was killed and 18 injured in an Israeli strike on an army centre between Tyre and Naqoura in southern Lebanon on Sunday, as Israel intensified ground attacks to secure several points along the border.

This comes as Israeli forces were attempting to encircle the southern town of Naqoura and position itself in Bayda, a strategic location in the western sector of the border, according to Lebanon's National News Agency. Bayda, which overlooks the coastline between Naqoura and Tyre, is about 8km from the border.

Ground clashes along the southern border have intensified in recent days, despite a US-brokered peace push reaching a critical stage in a reportedly positive atmosphere. Israel has repeated that any ceasefire negotiation with Lebanon will be held “under fire”, which analysts have described as a way to leverage negotiations while inflicting maximum damage to Hezbollah.

On September 23, Israel escalated a month-long border conflict into an intense air campaign against Lebanon, followed by a ground invasion a week later. It claims that its military objective is to “degrade Hezbollah,” and allow tens of thousands of displaced people from the northern frontier to return safely to their homes. More than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in two months of full-scale war.

The Israeli army launched a significant ground incursion into southern Lebanon on Friday, reaching Deir Mimas, a southern Lebanese town about 2.5km from the border with Israel, which overlooks the Litani River.

“The Israeli army has taken control of Deir Mimas; they are patrolling the streets now,” said Merhej Shamma, the deputy mayor of Deir Mimas, a Christian town 3km from the border with Israel, told The National. He said a few residents had remained in the village because they had nowhere else to go or refused to leave their homes. “No one goes out. They stay home,” he added.

While the village itself has not been significantly damaged, Mr Shamma said that “nowhere is safe”.

“I have one wish: a ceasefire, so we can all return to our village,” he added

Heavy fighting was also reported in the town of Khiam, about 6km from the border. The NNA said Israeli forces had used “all forms of weapons” in a week-long campaign to capture the town. Khiam is considered a strategic gateway for a rapid ground incursion, the agency added.

Hezbollah had “thwarted Israeli attempts” to capture Khiam, NNA reported, saying its fighters launched “swarms of drones and rocket salvos” on Saturday, targeting Israeli troops. Over the past two days, Hezbollah claimed it had attacked Israeli positions in and around the town about 20 times.

Israel has also escalated its air attacks across Lebanon, specifically on central Beirut, with four strikes in a week. On Sunday, Israeli air strikes hit the Kafaat neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, about an hour after eviction warnings were issued, NNA reported.

The latest attack targeted the Basta neighbourhood in the early hours of Saturday, killing at least 29 and injuring 77.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Wednesday warned Israel against launching further air strikes on Beirut, stressing that further attacks would result in retaliation against Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah claimed 38 attacks on Sunday, including a strike on “a military target in Tel Aviv,” as part of an operation “in retaliation for the strike on Beirut and “the massacres committed against civilians”. It also claimed, for the first time an attack on the Ashdod naval base, about 150km from the Lebanon-Israel border.

Israeli media reported that about 150 projectiles were fired from Lebanon. Hezbollah rockets in Haifa caused light shrapnel injuries to at least two people, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's ambulance service. Two more people were also injured in a rocket attack on central Israel.

Diplomatic push

The escalation in violence and cross-border attacks comes in the backdrop of renewed western-led diplomatic efforts to end the war. US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon and Israel this week for crucial meetings aimed at finalising a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

The talks to end the war between Hezbollah and Israel were described as “positive”, despite crucial sticking points. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier that any ceasefire negotiations with Lebanon will be conducted “under fire”.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called for an “immediate ceasefire” during his visit to Beirut on Sunday.

The Lebanese army, which has largely remained on the sidelines of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, said the centre in Al Amiriya sustained severe damage. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Sunday labelled Israel’s attack on an army centre in the town of Al Amiriya in southern Lebanon as a rejection of any ceasefire.

The attack represented “a direct and bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire, to bolster the Lebanese army's presence in the south and to implement UN resolution 1701", Mr Mikati said on X.

The Israeli army later said it “expresses regret over the incident and emphasises that its operations are directed solely against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, not the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

“The incident is under review,” it added in the statement.

Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of Alma, an Israeli think tank focused on northern security, said Israel's objective is “to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities as much as possible” in the absence of a ceasefire or a disarmament agreement for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

She stressed that Israel was not running out of targets in Lebanon. “You can see that by [the Israeli m ilitary] operations anywhere in Lebanon, like Beirut or the attack on the border crossing in Beqaa. IDF forces are still finding Hezbollah munitions that it is launching at us,” she said.

“I think the lesson we learnt from October 7 was that we cannot tolerate a situation where on one side of the border there is an armed militia fully prepared to attack us,” Ms Zehavi added.