JERUSALEM – Signs of a third full-scale war between Israel and the The Hezbollah terrorist movement, which rules a state within a state in Lebanon and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, is rapidly consolidating. Israel has already fought two previous wars against terrorist forces entrenched in Lebanon, in 1982 and 2006, and a third war appears to be looming.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has redeployed its elite, combat-tested 98th Division from the southern Gaza theater of war against Hamas in the north, in a possible prelude to what some say could be a ground invasion to root out Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
IDF Reserve Brigadier General Amir Avivi told Fox News Digital that the war in the north against Hezbollah is just around the corner. “A few weeks ago it became clear that due to the fact that Israel had destroyed most of Hamas' forces, Hamas no longer poses a serious threat to Israel. This was the time to decide to change the strategy and shift the center of gravity from the south to the north.”
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Rescuers carry a body at the site of a missile attack in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The rapid moves in Israel — a country the size of New Jersey — come as the Jewish state’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, is reportedly detonating electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah operatives in a scene straight out of a John le Carré spy novel. Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding 2,800 others.
On Wednesday, another wave of electronic devices detonated, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 450. Hezbollah officials said the devices included walkie-talkies and solar kits.
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The Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Lebanon on Thursday. (Israel Defense Forces)
“This was a moment to decide to change the strategy and move the center of gravity from the south to the north”
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in an intense air war for the past 48 hours. The Israeli war cabinet declared that the return of some 100,000 Israelis who were forced to flee the north due to Hezbollah attacks was a key objective of the war.
Avivi, who is the head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, He noted that there is no way to bring displaced Israelis back safely to their homes in the north “without driving Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon and hitting it hard, with all its capabilities throughout Lebanon.”
Troops of the Israel Defense Forces operate near the Lebanese border.
He said the chances of achieving a diplomatic solution are “extremely low due to the lack of international pressure and the unwillingness of the United States to pose a credible military threat against Iran and Hezbollah.”
The United Nations has failed to enforce Security Council Resolution 1701 demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah after its 2006 war against the Jewish state.
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In another devastating setback for Hezbollah, an IDF strike on Friday eliminated members of the elite Hezbollah Radwan force in Beirut.
IDF Spokesman Nadav Shoshani announced on Friday on X that: “We eliminated Ibrahim Aqil this morning in a pinpoint strike in Beirut, Lebanon. At the time of the strike, Ibrahim Aqil and the approximately 10 Radwan commanders who were eliminated with him gathered underground, beneath a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighborhood, hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields.”
Aqil was a globally wanted Islamist terrorist who had the blood of US military personnel on his hands. He was wanted by the US for his alleged role in the bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. He is also believed to be linked to the taking of American hostages in Lebanon during the 1980s.
The Israel Defense Forces say they killed senior Hezbollah terrorist Ibrahim Aqil in a strike in Beirut on Friday. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Shoshani added: “They were in the midst of planning more terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Terror attacks like the 200 rockets fired today at Israeli civilians and many more. These commanders also planned Hezbollah's “Conquer Galilee” attack plan, in which Hezbollah aimed to infiltrate Israeli communities and kill innocent civilians.”
Hezbollah attacked Israel on Oct. 8, a day after its ally Hamas invaded Israel and massacred nearly 1,200 people. Hezbollah attacks have killed more than 40 people in Israel, including 12 Israeli Druze children at a crowded soccer field in July.
“If Hezbollah cares about Lebanon's future, it would do well to withdraw from the Israeli border”
Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, told Fox News Digital: “If Israel had wanted to launch a full-scale offensive against the Iranian proxy in Lebanon, it would not have waited more than 11 months to do so. The Israel Defense Forces are attacking launchers and military infrastructure in Lebanon, after having delivered a stunning and demoralizing blow by blowing up communications devices, in what is perhaps Israel's last-ditch effort to exert pressure on Hezbollah to agree to a diplomatic deal that could avert a war.”
The aftermath of a Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on May 10, 2024. (Photo: Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL.) (Erez Bar Simon/TPS-IL)
Conricus, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added: “If Hezbollah cares about the future of Lebanon, it would do well to withdraw from the Israeli border and end its aggression against Israel, and disassociate its artificial connection to Hamas's war against Israel. After all, the Israeli authorities are obliged to facilitate the safe return of evacuated Israelis to their homes, whether through diplomatic agreement or military action.”
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Hezbollah fighters form a human barrier during the funeral procession of slain Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut on August 1, 2024. Hezbollah on August 1 mourned the death of Shukr, whose body was recovered from the rubble of a July 30 Israeli strike in southern Beirut that also killed five civilians – three women and two children – and wounded dozens, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as fears of a wider conflict in the region grew. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Rami Mortada, Lebanon's ambassador to the UK, told The Times of London that an Israeli invasion “is a catastrophic scenario for everyone. It is definitely a catastrophic day for Lebanon.” He warned that Lebanon would not suffer alone from a new war.
Israeli war planners have spent 17 years since the last war against Hezbollah in 2006 preparing for the doomsday conflict in the north.
Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
