ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israel has instructed its forces to seize “additional strategic positions” in Lebanon, the country’s defense minister announced Tuesday, shortly after Tel Aviv’s state-run broadcaster reported that Israeli ground forces had launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.
In a statement posted on X, Israel Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved advancing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to “seize control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon” in order to “prevent the possibility of direct fire” on Israeli communities situated along the borders with Lebanon.
The Israeli defense minister added that the move is part of Israel’s ongoing operation against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, stating that the group “is paying and will pay a heavy price for its firing toward Israel.”
Katz’ remarks came shortly after Tel Aviv’s state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) reported that “Israeli ground forces entered southern Lebanon.”
The announcements come as Hezbollah said on Tuesday that it had targeted three Israeli military bases in response to Israeli strikes on its strongholds in Lebanon, including Beirut’s densely populated southern suburb, widely known as ‘Dahieh’.
In separate statements, the Iran‑backed armed group said it launched drone attacks on the Ramat David airbase and the Meron monitoring base in northern Israel, and struck the Naffakh base, known as Camp Yitzhak in the Golan Heights, with a salvo of rockets.
The attacks came “in response to the criminal Israeli aggression on dozens of Lebanese cities and towns,” Hezbollah said.
The escalation on the Israel-Lebanon front began Monday after Hezbollah launched an initial attack on Israel to “avenge” the killing of Iran’s long-time supreme leader Ali Khamenei (1939-2026), who was killed during US-Israeli strikes in Tehran, alongside other senior officials on Saturday.
The attacks came “in response to the criminal Israeli aggression on dozens of Lebanese cities and towns,” Hezbollah said.
Israel has since Monday carried out dozens of air raids on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as well as in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region, after issuing evacuation warnings to residents.
As of Tuesday, Lebanese authorities report that Israel’s military actions have killed 52 people and injured 154 others. Approximately 29,000 residents have also been displaced from the affected areas and relocated to more than 171 emergency shelters, according to official Beirut figures.