Hezbollah fighters engaged Israeli soldiers in point-blank range combat north of the Litani River on Wednesday, according to a statement carried by the group’s Al Manar television network, marking the deepest ground incursion into Lebanon since a fragile ceasefire took effect in April and raising the prospect of a full-scale expansion of the 11-month conflict.
The exchange of fire took place in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, roughly a mile north of the Litani River and well beyond the boundary of Israel’s self-declared security buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said its forces carried out attacks on more than 150 sites in southern Lebanon in the preceding 24 hours, striking Hezbollah positions in Bint Jbeil, Maroun al-Ras, and the Bekaa Valley.
Health officials in Lebanon reported at least 31 people killed in Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday — one of the deadliest single tolls since the ceasefire took effect.
The escalation came one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had instructed the military to deploy “large forces on the ground” and take control of new areas north of the Israeli-held buffer zone.
A senior Hezbollah official said the group’s fighters were “fully prepared” to defend Lebanese territory and warned that any Israeli attempt to occupy new areas would be met with sustained resistance.
The United States called for an immediate de-escalation. State Department spokesman James Whitmore told reporters the US was “deeply concerned by the increase in violence” and urged both sides to return to the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and offered France’s full support for diplomatic efforts to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Hezbollah’s direct ground engagement with Israeli forces marks a significant departure from recent months, in which the group confined its operations largely to rocket and missile fire while avoiding close-quarters combat on Lebanese soil.
Lebanon’s already fractured political landscape was further strained by the violence. Prime Minister Mikati convened an emergency cabinet session and called on the international community to intervene before the situation spiralled further. “Lebanon cannot absorb another war,” Mikati said in a televised address.