The Israel Defense Forces is carrying out engineering operations aimed at setting conditions for the safe return of the some 60,000 Israeli civilians displaced from their homes in the country’s north, the army said on Monday.
“As part of efforts to create the conditions for the return of the northern residents to their homes, the IDF is conducting a wide-ranging operation to restore and clear up communities in northern Israel,” the IDF stated.
IDF engineering squads and other units are operating in more than 40 communities to clear out unexploded Hezbollah ammunition, as well as remove Israeli military equipment from civilian areas that were used as military staging sites amid the war with the Lebanese terrorist group.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas-led terrorist massacre in southern Israel, firing thousands of explosive drones, missiles and rockets across the Jewish state’s northern border on a daily basis for almost 14 months.
To avoid loss of life, Israel evacuated the residents of the border area to state-funded accommodations shortly after the outbreak of war. Roughly 60,000 evacuees left the north, many of them to Haifa and its environs.
IDF ground forces entered Lebanon in early October in an attempt to push Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, some 20 miles northwards.
Under the terms of the ceasefire deal reached with Beirut on Nov. 26, the IDF is to withdraw gradually from Lebanon’s south over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River while official Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
The IDF’s 769th Brigade continues to discover terror infrastructure and weapons storage facilities during operations in southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Monday, noting the raids were carried out “in accordance with the ceasefire and understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Soldiers of the Golani Brigade were said to have found new Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. During the operation, the troops conducted searches and located a weapons storage facility containing over 100 explosives and approximately 20 rocket launchers of various types.
In additional operations, the soldiers located mortar shells and tactical military equipment, the IDF said. The arms were seized and dismantled.
The Times of London reported on Sunday that following the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran is considering turning Beirut International Airport into its new primary weapons smuggling hub in the Middle East.
Citing a regional source “familiar with discussions taking place in Tehran,” the British newspaper noted that the potential move “could lead to the next escalation,” adding that it would likely violate the truce agreement recently signed between Israel and Lebanon.
The severing of Tehran’s arms supply lines to Hezbollah via Syria constituted an unprecedented strategic setback for Tehran and its Lebanese terrorist proxy, Israeli analysts said last week. JNS
{Matzav.com Israel}