Israel Ramps Up Offensive Against Hezbollah

September 24, 2024

Israel launched its deadliest attack against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Monday, aiming to change the balance of power around northern Israel.

“We do not wait for a threat; we anticipate it. Everywhere, in every theater, at any time,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Goal: Israel’s goal is to bring home residents who have fled northern Israel. To do this, it must remove any potential threats across the border. One of those threats was a Hezbollah plan to invade Israel, similar to Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Attack: On Monday, Israel made 80,000 calls to people in southern Lebanon, warning them to evacuate immediately. The calls were followed by air strikes that killed at least 492 people and injured over 1,645.

The attack, named “Operation Northern Arrows,” targeted homes where Hezbollah was storing weapons. One photo released by the Israel Defense Forces (idf) shows a rocket stored in the attic of a Lebanese family’s home, from where it could be launched. Secondary explosions occurred as many homes were hit, confirming that they contained weapons.

The rocket that you see below is a long-range rocket, stored on a hydraulic system directed toward Israeli civilians and ready to be launched at a moments notice.

This is just one of the 1,300 targets including long-range cruise missiles, heavy-weight rockets and UAVs that were… pic.twitter.com/XHGsKPzxbQ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 23, 2024

The sights that are now seen in southern Lebanon are Hezbollah’s weapons exploding inside houses. Every home we struck, there are rockets, drones, missiles, which were intended to kill Israeli civilians.
—Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, idf spokesman

WATCH: IDF Spox. RAdm. Daniel Hagari explains how Hezbollah exploits civilian infrastructure as weapons storage sites and uses the Lebanese people as human shields: pic.twitter.com/nuNG8OEo8G
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 23, 2024

Timeline:

September 17–18: Israel blows up Hezbollah pagers.
September 19: Israeli fighter jets destroy over 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.
September 20: The idf reports that a top Hezbollah commander, who was planning to invade Galilee, was killed with 10 other senior commanders in a Beirut strike. Hezbollah fires 200 rockets into northern Galilee and the Golan Heights.
September 21: The idf launches air strikes against hundreds of Hezbollah targets, reporting that they likely destroyed the majority of plans for a major attack on Israel. That night, Hezbollah fires rockets into the Jezreel Valley, its deepest strike into Israel.
September 22: Hezbollah launches 85 rockets into Haifa. At least three people are injured.

Today, Hezbollah retaliated by bombarding areas across northern Israel with over 100 rockets, including Kiryat Shmona, Nazareth, Afula, Haifa and Jezreel Valley. The attacks continue at the time of writing.

To find out what the outcome of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict will be, read Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s article “Why We Told You to Watch Lebanon.”