In the clearest sign yet that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon is about to occur, US officials say that Israel has informed them today that they are planning an “imminent ground invasion” of their neighbor to the north.
Details are still scant on the full invasion, but there are already reports earlier today that Israeli special forces have begun military operations into southern Lebanon. The operations are being presented by Israeli officials as targeting Hezbollah “infrastructure.”
Exactly what infrastructure means is never clear in Israeli statements, and other reports suggest that the current raids are primarily aimed at intelligence gathering ahead of broader operations by Israeli forces into the entire country.
While the ground operations are new, Israel continued carrying out airstrikes against southern Lebanon as they have been on a near daily basis for months. Indeed, the airstrikes have escalated dramatically in the past week, with many hundreds of people killed across Lebanon, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Today, it is being reported that one of the airstrikes on al-Buss refugee camp killed Hamas member Fatah Sharif.
The international community has been scrambling for months to try to secure a ceasefire which would prevent Israel from invading Lebanon. Hezbollah has tied the ceasefire closely to reaching a similar deal in Israel’s ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials seem to have taken little out of the pushes for a deal, and have long talked up the need for a ground invasion.
It is not clear how broad an Israeli invasion of Lebanon would be, but most countries have been strongly urging their citizens to flee the country as soon as possible to avoid casualties. Large numbers of Lebanese have also fled into Syria to avoid the invasion.
