Col. Shaul Yisraeli, commander of Israel’s 7th Armored Brigade, described how the brigade’s engineers, tank crews and supporting units pushed deep into southern Lebanon in an operation aimed at gaining control of the Litani River area. He said the most difficult engineering task in the ground maneuver was opening routes to the river, often at night, on steep and narrow terrain exposed to anti-tank teams, booby traps, rockets, mortars and explosive drones.
Yisraeli said D9 bulldozers, nicknamed “Dubi,” led the force, clearing mines, rocks and other obstacles so tanks could follow. Under fire from Hezbollah observers, the bulldozer crews kept moving until the blade touched the Litani’s water. He praised Engineering Battalion 603 and said the brigade’s engineering companies were not getting enough credit. “They basically opened passages both in the Litani and in the Saluki, an event that never happened before,” he said, calling the engineers’ work comparable in importance to “nuclear engineers.” He added that the companies’ commanders were “heroes” and that the brigade had killed 68 militants in recent weeks.
The brigade was the first to enter fighting after the fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah and began from the Mount Dov, Misgav Am area after aerial surveillance showed militants moving in south and east Lebanon. With political approval, it advanced toward the first line of Lebanese villages, including Taybeh, Markaba and Raba al-Thalathin, to block raids on northern Israeli communities and anti-tank fire. Later, the brigade joined Golani in capturing Kantara, which Yisraeli called a 20-year Hezbollah and Iranian-built “safe city” packed with rooms, weapons and firing positions overlooking Misgav Am, the Saluki valley and the route to the Litani.
He said the battle then expanded to ridge lines over the Litani and the Beaufort ridge, where troops found underground and above-ground terror infrastructure, and where “the ground was burning,” as he put it. Hezbollah used hundreds of suicide drones, and Yisraeli warned the threat would grow, with heavier explosives and longer range. He urged Israel to invest more in counter-drone defenses, said some solutions will be low-tech such as nets, and argued that the tank is now “not just a tank” but a multi-sensor system that can also launch drones and support future weapons.
Yisraeli also cited the recent breach in which a Hezbollah operative crossed the border near Margaliot, fired a pistol at troops and was killed, saying the incident should prompt review of Israel’s defensive deployment even as the army focuses on offense. He said brigade and battalion command tenures may need shortening, and stressed that the war’s burden falls heavily on commanders’ families, especially the wives of battalion commanders, whom he called the real heroes at home.
