Illustrative image.
Hezbollah announced on June 18 that it had thwarted attempts by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) over the past four days to advance toward the southern Lebanese town of Kfartebnit and the Ali al-Taher height.
In a statement, which was the first in nearly 48 hours, the group said that the IDF attempted to advance towards both areas along multiple routes, backed by heavy artillery fire and aerial surveillance carried out by drone.
It added that its fighters confronted all of those attempts by targeting Israeli troop movements with rockets, drones, and loitering munitions, “inflicting losses among officers, soldiers, and military vehicles, forcing the troops to withdraw and use helicopters under cover of smoke and artillery fire to evacuate their casualties.”
According to the statement, Hezbollah fighters detected at 8 p.m. local time on June 17 a group of Israeli troops infiltrating the northeastern outskirts of Kfartebnit and targeted it with a swarm of drones and loitering munitions, leaving its members dead or wounded.
Later at 1.50 a.m. local time on June 18, while Israeli troops were attempting to regroup near the crossing area, its fighters struck a Merkava main battle tank with a direct hit, forcing the assembled troops to withdraw.
The group asserted that Israeli forces remain positioned on the southern outskirts of Kfartebnit from the direction of the town of Arnoun and vowed that the Kfartebnit–Ali al-Taher area “will remain impervious” to any ground incursion by the IDF.
Ali al-Taher is one of the main strategic highest points to the north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon. A large underground base of Hezbollah with a complex network of tunnels is believed to be located there. The IDF is clearly attempting to reach the base.
The IDF confirmed taking losses in Lebanon the past day. It said that a reservist soldier was killed, and seven others were wounded, including an officer with the rank of colonel, by a Hezbollah explosive device. They were on a patrol along the Litani when the device exploded.
The pace of Israeli attacks on Lebanon slowed over the past three days, likely as a result of the American-Iranian deal to end the war in the Persian Gulf.
A ceasefire in Lebanon is included within the deal. However, as evident by the IDF’s recent advance attempts, Israel is not respecting this. Iran had warned that it could respond. However, this is unlikely to happen, as it would risk all the achievements secured by the Islamic Republic.
All in all, Lebanon is slowly turning to the main flashpoint in the wider regional confrontation between Israel and the Islamic Republic.
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