Israel’s political leadership has instructed the IDF to halt fire in southern Lebanon, but the military has opposed the move. Even so, Israeli forces remain deployed in the area and continue to operate in southern Lebanon while staying on high alert because of threats from Iran.
The ceasefire does not include an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. IDF troops are still holding the forward defensive zone known as the “yellow line,” and are continuing activity there. At the same time, the army has operational control of the Ali Tahar ridge complex near the city of Nabatieh, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
According to a senior source, dozens of Hezbollah operatives are trapped inside the site and cannot get out. Heavy exchanges of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah took place during the day.
Hezbollah said 111 people were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the weekend, following the tank disaster in which battalion commander Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simchon of the 52nd Armored Battalion and three other soldiers were killed. Ben Simchon and the three soldiers, whose names have not yet been cleared for publication, were killed overnight Thursday to Friday during an operation in the village of Tebnine near the ridge, part of an effort to seize Hezbollah’s underground complex in the Ali Tahar area. A senior IDF officer said the disaster was caused by an explosive drone or an anti-tank missile, not by an operational accident.
