Israeli ground troops launched an invasion of the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil today, initially surrounding the town and inundating it with artillery fire before advancing deeper in. Hezbollah fighters are reportedly within the town resisting the advance.
Details of what is happening in the town vary based on different sources, but the IDF has claimed not only to have fully encircled the town, but to have killed “over 100 terrorists” in the attack that has led them to “nearly” seizing the town.
Israeli troops also made a point of the fact that they captured the town’s stadium, noting that Hezbollah founder Hassan Nasrallah once gave a speech there decades ago commemorating the “end” of the Israeli occupation of Lebanon.
An overhead view of the badly damaged stadium in Bint Jbeil | Image from Israeli Defense Forces
The timing of this attack, coming immediately ahead of planned US-hosted talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials, and raising some speculation that Israel is looking for last-minute gains before winding down the conflict.
In reality that may not be a factor at all, as Israel is going into the “peace talks” seemingly openly averse to the idea of a ceasefire, and polls showed the Israeli public decisively against the idea of not attacking Lebanon, and indeed divided on the question of whether or not to respect the US-Iran ceasefire. Reports from Lebanese officials are that at least 34 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the nation, with the overall toll since the war began approaching 2,100 killed.
Hezbollah, for their part, opposes the US talks, which they were not invited to participate in, and is continuing to resist the Israeli invasion, launching drones and rockets against Israeli territory.
