Israel expands invasion of southern Lebanon

Israel deployed a fourth division of troops inside Lebanon on Tuesday, expanding its front with Hezbollah and bringing the likely total number of its soldiers in the country to more than 15,000.

The Middle East conflict intensified again as Israel marked one year since Hamas militants’ deadly Oct. 7 raid that killed 1,200 Israelis, as fears increase of a wider regional war with Iran and its proxies.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Tuesday that its 146th Reserve Division had joined its ground offensive in southern Lebanon, where troops have clashed with Hezbollah forces directly at several Lebanese villages, according to Israeli media.

The new division was deployed in the western part of the region, with Israeli troops already operating in the east and central areas of southern Lebanon.

Israel launched its ground offensive in Lebanon earlier this month with the stated goal of crippling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure along the border and allowing Israeli residents displaced by the Iran-backed militant group’s missile strikes to return to their homes.

The IDF described its ground operations on Oct. 1 as “limited, localised and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence” against Hezbollah, though that offensive has now expanded over the past week.

Israel’s cross-border incursion marked a new phase in the war following waves of airstrikes on Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon that killed hundreds, including the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also spent the last year fighting against Hamas in Gaza, killing at least 40,000 people and leaving the coastal enclave in ruins.