The IDF's 36th Division has pushed to within a few kilometers of Nabatieh, southern Lebanon's third-largest city and a major Hezbollah stronghold, an IDF official says. Forces crossed the Litani River undetected via a newly built bridge and now await a political decision on whether to advance into the city or continue operations westward along the river. The goal is to further weaken Hezbollah, according to the military.
(1) The IDF's 36th Division has reached the outskirts of Arnoun, a village just kilometers from Nabatieh — the deepest ground advance in southern Lebanon since 1985, when Israeli forces last operated inside the city. An IDF official described the current position as a military opportunity not previously available, made possible by a deception operation: while Hezbollah focused on the Saluki stream area, Givati and Golani brigades secretly cut a route through a valley the military had once assessed as impassable, crossed the Litani via a new bridge, and seized the Beaufort ridge.
(2) Under the Beaufort ridge, troops located and cleared a large Iranian-standard underground network — including anti-aircraft machine-gun slits aimed at helicopters — and killed 20 Hezbollah operatives inside, the IDF says. The division now holds two options: advance north into Nabatieh or head west along the Litani. Both aim to further degrade Hezbollah's capabilities, the official stated. The political echelon and the chief of staff will decide.
(3) The IDF also reports a still-unstable decline in drone attacks on its troops in southern Lebanon, attributed to the elimination of a key drone operator yesterday, improved counter-drone tactics (ambushes, "sky watchers" with fragmentation ammunition), and wider deployment of protective netting. However, the military cautions that the trend is too brief to confirm as steady, and has identified fiber-optic drones with ranges of up to 20 km.
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