0
0
Even as dozens of Gazans were killed, burned, or buried alive when Israel conducted its latest school/hospital bombing, the IDF has encountered overly stern resistance in its advance into southern Lebanon.
A spokesperson for Hezbollah, which is contesting Israel across much of the border, claims that its military “has not been unable to take full control of any village,” and has been reduced to a strategy of “destroy, shoot, and run”.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah accused Israel of pursuing a “scorched earth policy through the systematic destruction of villages,” particularly near the border with Israel. Multiple outlets reported recently that IDF soldiers appeared to have dynamited an ancient village containing the shrine of prophet Benjamin Bin Yaakoub built 2,100 years ago.
Videos widely shared online showed a series of massive explosions in Mhaibib, in the Marjaayoun District of Nabatiyeh. It was once a pilgrimage site for both Jews and Muslims, but following the demarcation of the Blue Line in 2006, it became difficult for Jews to visit the site connected to the son of Jacob, son of Abraham.
The fighting has seen Israel take losses in quantities that are beginning to leak into the media. Hezbollah claims IDF losses total 55 dead and over 500 wounded, as well as 20 of the Israeli’s main battle tanks, the Merkava, destroyed or disabled. IDF releases casualty reports rarely, but lately named 5 Golani commandoes killed in Lebanon.
It seems very likely that at least two Merkavas, the same tanks the IDF used to break into the stronghold of the UN peacekeepers deployed in the area, were destroyed, as multiple outlets report claims of seeing video footage of anti-tank missiles hitting targets and starting fuel fires in in the distance.
News outlets have been unable to confirm Hezbollah’s claims of casualties or ground taken, but it is telling that fighting is continuing, now in the fourth week since the IDF started its invasion, in places of extreme proximity to the border with Israel, like al-Labbouneh Hill, Aita al-Shaab, and Mhaibib.
WaL has reported before that IDF casualties in Gaza may total between 10,000 and 20,000 killed and wounded, according to Israeli news outlets. Casualty numbers are kept strictly secret in Israel, hence the disparity in the estamations. WaL
We Humbly Ask For Your Support—Follow the link here to see all the ways, monetary and non-monetary.
PICTURED ABOVE: IDF detonating explosives in the town of Mhaibib. PC: retrieved from X.
