Israel carries out ground raids in southern Lebanon in anticipation of a possible larger invasion

Updated September 30, 2024 at 1:42 p.m. ET

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli commandos conducted small ground raids in southern Lebanon on Monday, and there were indications that Israel may send more forces to the region, a senior U.S. official told NPR.

Israel also conducted brief intelligence-gathering raids in southern Lebanon this week as it prepares for a limited ground offensive, a Middle East official told NPR.

“Everything is on the table,” the region’s official said of a possible ground incursion. This official and the senior U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation.

The moves follow days of intensifying fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which began trading attacks across the Israel-Lebanon border after Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7. Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people in less than two weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. They targeted senior Hezbollah officials, including leader Hassan Nasrallah, and their weapons, but also killed civilians.

Israel says it will continue targeting Hezbollah until Israeli residents can safely return to their homes in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border. Hezbollah says it will continue to launch rockets at Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

U.S. officials have assessed that Israel is unprepared for a major ground offensive inside Lebanon because its troops are exhausted after a year of ground operations inside Gaza.

Tamir Hayman, who headed Israel’s military intelligence directorate until 2021, said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Monday that Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon had succeeded in unbalancing Hezbollah.

But he added that Israel would have to decide soon whether it would launch a ground invasion, and for what purpose: to create a permanent security buffer zone that Israel would occupy long term, with strong international opposition, or only stay temporarily to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure?

“Are we here to reach an agreement and then leave? Are we here to stay? said Hayman, referring to the choices Israel must make.

Hezbollah’s interim leader Naim Kassem said in a televised address that the group’s fighters were ready if Israel launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

US sends additional forces to region

The senior U.S. official told NPR that the Pentagon will send “a few thousand” additional troops to the Middle East, focused on air defense capabilities.

The United States is concerned about retaliation by Iran and Iranian-backed militias in the region against Israel’s actions. Such retaliation could threaten American troops in Iraq and Syria.

Israeli strikes in Yemen offer message to Iran

The conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen is also escalating.

The Houthis, Yemen’s main military group, launched a ballistic missile toward central Israel on Saturday, saying it was targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane returning from a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Netanyahu landed in Israel shortly before air raid sirens sounded at the airport and throughout central Israel. The Israeli military said it had intercepted the missile in flight.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had sent dozens of fighter jets and refueling planes more than 1,600 miles to Yemen, where it said it had bombed power plants and a seaport used by the Houthis to import oil for military purposes. The Houthis said the affected areas were civilian targets and that at least four people were killed and dozens injured in the Israeli strikes.

Israeli security analysts said the Israeli bombing campaign in Yemen was a message to Iran, showing Israel’s long-range flight capability as a tacit warning to Iran that it was also at the reach of Israel.

This is a developing story that may be updated.