The Israel Defense Forces has launched a defensive operation against the Hezbollah Terror organization by conducting precise, intelligence-based strikes on hundreds of Hezbollah targets. Our goal is to thwart imminent attacks planned by Hezbollah, who intended to fire the very weapons we destroyed at Israeli homes. Our objective is to ensure that Israeli families can safely and securely return to their homes.
Hezbollah’s Use of Civilian Areas for Weapons Storage
Where was Hezbollah hiding these weapons? Inside Lebanese homes. For the last 20 years, Hezbollah has built its terror network within population centers in Lebanon, primarily throughout Southern Lebanon, an area that has almost entirely been turned into a launchpad for attacks on Israel. According to Israeli intelligence, it is estimated that in every two to three homes in southern Lebanon, there’s a Hezbollah terror asset hidden inside.
Human Shield Strategy by Hezbollah
The IDF has released concrete intelligence documenting Hezbollah’s human shield strategy. Here are a few examples of hundreds of targets:
- A long-range cruise missile with a 1,000 kg warhead that Hezbollah planned to launch at Israel, hidden in the attic of a Lebanese home. This is real footage from one such home.
- The DR3 cruise missile with a warhead of up to 300 kg that Hezbollah intended to use to kill Israelis, hidden inside a residential building in Lebanon. This is real footage from one such building. You can see the secondary explosions proving that we did, in fact, target and hit weapons inside those homes.
Hezbollah’s Attacks on Israel
On October 8th, Hezbollah began attacking Israel. They chose to join the war that Hamas started on October 7th with their brutal massacre. Since October 8th, 60,000 Israeli people have evacuated their homes, and Hezbollah has indiscriminately fired over 9,000 rockets at Israeli homes, causing death and destruction. One of these attacks killed 12 children playing soccer on a Saturday night in Majal Shams.
Israel’s Defensive Operation: “Enough is Enough”
After almost a year of Hezbollah’s rockets, missiles, suicide drones, and ground attacks, after almost a year of Israel calling and seeking a diplomatic solution, after almost a year of restraint from Israel, our defensive operation against Hezbollah sends a clear message: enough is enough.
Warning to Civilians in Lebanon
Prior to our strikes on Hezbollah’s weapons that they intended to launch at Israeli homes, we called on the Lebanese people with weapons in their homes to move out of danger, to move out of harm’s way. We conveyed this message in Arabic on TV and social media, sending text messages and making phone calls. Israel is essentially telegraphing its punches to its enemy to minimize civilian harm. Hezbollah, however, seeks to maximize harm to the Lebanese civilians it uses as human shields.
Hezbollah’s Targeting of Civilians
Hezbollah called on Lebanese civilians to stay put, not to evacuate. While Hezbollah targets civilians, Israel is solely striking Hezbollah terrorist and military targets, doing so in full compliance with international law. Israel is a democratic state under threat from a terror organization whose stated goal is to destroy Israel.
Hezbollah’s Plan to “Conquer the Galilee”
Hezbollah has openly declared that it has a plan to carry out its own October 7th Massacre on Israel’s northern border, but on an even larger scale. They call this plan “Conquer the Galilee”. For years, Hezbollah has been planning to do in Northern Israel what Hamas did in Southern Israel on October 7th: invade Israel, infiltrate civilian communities, and massacre innocent civilians. When the world came together and said that October 7th can never happen again, the defensive action that Israel has been taking against Hezbollah fulfills that promise.
Hezbollah’s Attacks from Lebanese Villages
Hezbollah planned to launch their October 7th style attack from villages they’ve been building their forces in for the last two decades. These villages, located just across the border from Israel, have become bases for attacks. For example:
- The village of Kil, located 350 meters from the Israeli community of Matula, has a Hezbollah weapons warehouse intentionally placed 100 meters from a school and 125 meters from a mosque.
- The village of Aab, approximately 1 km away from the border with Israel, contains two Hezbollah weapons warehouses. These are built 100 meters from a mosque, 150 meters from a medical clinic, and 200 meters from a Lebanese school.
Violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701
For the past two decades, Hezbollah has consistently and relentlessly deepened its presence in southern Lebanon, building outposts along the Blue Line and hiding massive amounts of arms in the villages of southern Lebanon, in clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Israel’s Duty to Protect Its Citizens
We have a duty to make sure that Israeli civilians can return safely and securely to their homes. We have a duty to ensure that October 7th never happens again on any of our borders.
