Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon on Wednesday in the first fatalities of Israel’s ground campaign against Hezbollah, a signal of the potentially bloody toll such an offensive could take as the military widens its battle with the militant group, SİA reports citing The Times of Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said the soldiers were killed in three separate incidents, with seven others seriously injured, but did not give further details. The statement came just hours after the military said it was engaged in “close-range” firefights inside Lebanese territory.
If the pace of Israeli casualties continues in Lebanon, experts say, it could shape the depth and scope of the offensive, which the IDF announced early Tuesday, saying the aim was to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. For Israel, the deaths will revive difficult memories of the invasion of Lebanon in 2006, when the first tank to cross the border hit a roadside bomb and four soldiers were killed.
“What will be the depth of the invasion? How much will be cleared? We don’t know,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former major general and Israeli national security adviser. “It will be decided depending on the achievements on the ground.”
The IDF has described the ground operations in Lebanon so far as “limited, localized and targeted” raids within a few miles of the border. But the large amount of tanks and thousands of troops now amassed in the north point to planning for a much larger foray than the one Israel has telegraphed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given little away in terms of plans, other than vowing to keep striking Hezbollah with “full force” until it is possible for the more than 60,000 residents displaced along Israel’s northern border to return home. Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel last Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage.
Since then, Israel has embarked on a sweeping push against Iran-backed proxies on its borders and beyond, in an effort to restore deterrence, shift regional power dynamics and prevent further attacks.
But as Netanyahu weighs future moves, he will need to navigate domestic calls for decisive military action in Lebanon, while also addressing concerns that troops could get bogged down in skirmishes with fighters, and struggle to achieve the offensive’s bigger aims.
Far-right hawks, including in the government, have called for a more permanent “buffer zone” to be established on Lebanese territory. At the same time, the United States and other allies have tried to deter Israel from a large-scale war, amid fears of regional spillover and a worsening humanitarian crisis. In Lebanon, the Israeli military has already carried out more than 3,600 airstrikes and displaced as many as 1 million people, according to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
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