Continuing to flout November’s ceasefire with Lebanon, Israeli ground troops invaded southern Lebanon once again at dawn on Wednesday, with around 20 troops marching into the area around al-Abbasiya. The troops searched multiple abandoned homes in the area.
Israel did not issue a statement on the incursion and did not indicate what they imagined they were going to be finding there. The troops interrogated a number of locals, and also detained a pair of Syrian workers, though they were eventually released.
One of the abandoned houses raided today was apparently being used by the Syrian workers, and that’s how they got swept up in all of this. The troops reportedly told them they were looking for some other Syrian, who they didn’t know and was not present.
Israeli drones were reported to be flying overhead in the towns and villages in the vicinity of this incursion, though no drone strikes were reported yet. It’s not unusual, of course, for Israeli drones to be active in the area, but it appears they were flying lower as the incursion was ongoing.
The ceasefire meant to see all Israeli ground troops withdraw from Israel within 90 days. Though that deadline was roughly six months ago, that never actually happened, and Israel retained more or less a permanent ground presence in the south, with new military outposts constructed after the ceasefire began.
Beyond that, these incursions happen regularly, though most just involve showing up, setting up some roadblocks on roads near the border, and leaving. The Lebanese Army reported that they had removed some barriers set up earlier in the week in a previous Israeli incursion around Aitaroun, which Israel also has not commented on.
