Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel was “fighting terror on all fronts,” as ministers heard security briefings from senior IDF officials during the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Ministers who attended the discussion said that, regarding the Lebanese front, there was a major gap between the IDF’s operational achievements and what the public sees.
IDF forces capture Beaufort Castle
(Video: IDF)
According to the ministers, the public is exposed mainly to incidents in which soldiers are killed, while the military’s view of the battlefield shows extensive damage to the enemy and a high level of freedom of maneuver for Israeli forces.
“There is a very large gap between the public atmosphere and the reality on the ground,” the ministers said. They added that the data presented to them was encouraging from a military and security perspective.
Among the figures presented, ministers said more than 1,000 terrorists had been killed since the current ceasefire, and that about 2,000 rockets had been fired, most of them aimed at IDF forces rather than Israeli communities. “Many times this triggers alerts in communities, but there are no impacts there,” they said.
They also said 1.2 million residents of southern Lebanon had been evacuated from their homes, and that Israel controls about one-fifth of Lebanese territory. “The army almost does not encounter the enemy. There is no face-to-face combat. These are deep guerrilla characteristics,” the ministers said.
The briefings also included details of the extensive destruction of terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon, including villages close to the Israeli border that no longer exist. South of the Litani River, according to the briefing, 172,000 residents remain, 47,000 of them Christians and the rest Shiites, Sunnis and Druze, most of them in the city of Tyre.
The briefings indicated that Hezbollah is being used as a bargaining chip by Iran in its negotiations with the United States. Ministers were also told that Lebanon’s president and prime minister had made dramatic statements against Hezbollah, despite a serious incident in which a Lebanese army brigadier general was killed because of mistaken identification.
Security officials said the IDF is now building a new line of military posts in southern Lebanon, similar to the model in Gaza, with no enemy population between the posts and Israeli territory.
Netanyahu said at the Cabinet meeting that 350 terrorists had been killed in Lebanon in the past week alone.
IDF forces at Beaufort Castle
(Photo: Israeli Military/Handout via REUTERS)
“Our forces captured the Beaufort Ridge. They found a massive underground infrastructure there,” he said. “We are completing the elimination of the terrorist villages adjacent to our border. We are striking them very hard, and we know Hezbollah is fleeing. We will not allow fire at our territory or our communities, and we will act accordingly.”
According to the IDF, one reason for capturing the Beaufort Ridge was the understanding that Hezbollah had built a significant underground bunker there over decades with Iranian backing. The site is considered a strategic Hezbollah asset and a major center of gravity for the organization in southern Lebanon.
According to assessments, Hezbollah managed its fighting against the IDF in southern Lebanon from that infrastructure. The site had previously been bombed from the air but was not destroyed. IDF troops operating in the area are working to destroy the infrastructure so it cannot be used again, a process officials said is expected to take several more days.
On Iran, ministers were told that the IDF is on immediate alert to return to combat. According to the briefing, Iran is experiencing a significant leadership vacuum, major difficulty passing messages and widespread disorder.
On Syria, ministers were told that Damascus has an interest in Hezbollah being weakened, and that Syrian forces are currently rebuilding their strength.
Regarding the West Bank, ministers were told that the incident in which a baby was killed by gunfire was extremely serious, and that the force did not know there was a baby in the vehicle. According to the briefing, the troops believed the driver intended to ram them and opened fire at the car.
“A despicable terrorist came out, reached Kochav Yair and, unfortunately, before he was eliminated, managed to murder an Israeli citizen and wound others,” he said. “I first of all commend the standby forces that acted immediately against the terrorists. I commend the Israel Police officers who eliminated the terrorist and also caught his accomplice.”