Israeli soldiers reached the Litani river in southern Lebanon on Tuesday for the first time since they began ground operations in the country in mid-September, marking a symbolic milestone in their campaign.
In recent days, social media video and Lebanese media reports have shown Israeli troops around the river near the town of Khiam, south of the river, where Hezbollah also says its fighters have engaged in heavy fighting with Israeli forces.
At some points in this area of southern Lebanon, the river is roughly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from the Israeli border, the shortest distance between the waterway and Israel’s northern frontier.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a Tuesday statement that its troops in the “Litani area” had “raided several terrorist targets, engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorists, located and destroyed dozens of launchers, thousands of rockets and missiles, and weapons storage facilities hidden in the mountainside.”
The IDF also said it destroyed multiple Hezbollah posts and launchers in the Nabatieh area in the Salouki valley, which in some locations stretches up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the border.
The IDF statement includes a picture of a commanding officer overlooking the Litani river from its banks.
IDF troops have been attempting to reach the Litani since Israel’s operations began in September, and they have heavily engaged with Hezbollah combatants in the area.
Some background: The Litani was instrumental in the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to end a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon, which has kept relative calm in the area for nearly two decades.
The resolution stipulated that Israel must withdraw all its soldiers from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah forces should withdraw north of the river and that the only armed groups present in south of the Litani should be the Lebanese military and UN peacekeeping forces.
