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Ynet: With 50,000 troops, Israel unable to ‘capture a single village’ in Lebanon

Saturday, 02 November 2024 8:32 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 02 November 2024 8:32 AM ]

Israeli soldiers are deployed in the Upper Galilee region near the border with Lebanon on September 29, 2024. (Getty Images)

The Israeli military has so far failed to “capture even a single village” in southern Lebanon despite deploying over 50,000 soldiers for the ground invasion of Lebanon, an Israeli paper has lamented.

“After a month of ground operations involving five divisions and reserve brigades—exceeding 50,000 troops, three times the force used in the July 2006 war—Israel has been unable to establish a presence in southern Lebanon,” Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

“Despite support from firepower and air support, the Israeli military still hasn’t managed to capture a single village in southern Lebanon.”

The report attributed the failure of the Israeli forces to Hezbollah’s “effective tactical strategies,” which include multiple defensive lines equipped with munitions capable of accurately targeting Israeli armored vehicles, tanks, and soldiers.

Additionally, it noted the Israeli army’s difficulties in mapping Hezbollah’s positions and countering the threat posed by small, hard-to-detect drones.

Hezbollah issued a statement on Friday, saying that in the past 45 days, it had destroyed a large number of Israel’s military vehicles, including 42 Merkava tanks, 4 military bulldozers, 2 Hummer vehicles, 1 armored vehicle, and 1 troop carrier.

More than 95 Israeli officers and soldiers have been killed and 900 others wounded since the regime started its ground invasion against Lebanon, the statement added.

95 Israeli troops killed, 900 injured since regime's ground invasion: Hezbollahhttps://t.co/LAwImEsSDs
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) November 1, 2024

Resistance fighters also downed three Hermes-450 and two Hermes-900 drones.

In an interview, Colonel Jack Neriya, a former advisor to Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, explained that Hezbollah fighters are deliberately allowing Israeli forces to advance, only to trap them in ambushes. This tactic has created a dire situation for Israeli troops, including elite units like Golani and other commandos, he said.

Neriya also warned that the human cost of any advance for Israeli forces could be severe, potentially surpassing “Israel’s” total casualties since the late 1940s.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 2,700 people in Lebanon. Most of them have lost their lives in the past month amid the intensified airstrikes and a ground offensive.

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