IDF thins out troops in Lebanon as satellite images show massive scope of Hezbollah terror infrastructure

The Israel Defense Forces is thinning out its troops operating in southern Lebanon amid continuing talks of a ceasefire with Hezbollah. Meanwhile, several media outlets have reported that around 30 Lebanese towns have been badly damaged by the IDF’s systematic destruction of Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure.

Several IDF brigades have been pulled out of active battle and were granted resting periods, military officials confirmed to Ynet News.

Army Radio’s military correspondent Doron Kadosh noted earlier that IDF operational updates from Lebanon had mentioned fewer active troops for the past week, but the military censor so far didn’t allow reporting on the issue.

In its latest update, the military said that soldiers of the 36th and the 91st Division killed several Hezbollah terrorists and continued to locate large amounts of hidden weapons and ammunition.

Troops of the 91st Division destroyed "terrorist infrastructure using engineering tools and airstrikes, and our forces also located and destroyed many weapons," the IDF stated.

The Israeli ground operation is now expected to continue for several more weeks, as the IDF is awaiting instructions from the political echelon on how to proceed. “In order to reach an agreement - decisions need to be made in Jerusalem,” military officials told Ynet News.

Meanwhile, the immense scope of the IDF’s systematic destruction of Lebanese villages has received increased media attention these past days, with many reports based on new satellite images.

However, reports from Lebanese media, as well as the Washington Post, Financial Times, and the Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat, have accused Israel of intentionally destroying villages in a scorched earth tactic, or purely out of revenge.

Footage released these past weeks by the IDF and testimonies by Israeli soldiers, as well as reporters embedded with them in southern Lebanon, indicate that especially in the villages close to the border, nearly every house has been turned into a battle compound, a weapons depot, or an entry point to an underground facility.

For the curious, here are 2 maps. The first shows the religious breakdown of the villages of S. Lebanon. When the outlines of the Christian villages are drawn on the damage map, the effect becomes obvious. They alone resisted Hezbollah. Sadly even the Sunnis seem to have failed. pic.twitter.com/C3VftSiR9w

— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) November 4, 2024

Underlining this fact, satellite images show that villages known to have prevented Hezbollah from using their territory, like the Christian town of Rmeish, appear to have barely been touched by IDF airstrikes and targeted destructions.

The Lebanese News Agency reported that so far, “More than 37 towns were wiped out and the houses in them were destroyed. It is about more than 40,000 housing units that were completely destroyed.”

According to the Financial Times (FT), Israeli destruction of terror infrastructure focuses on a roughly 3 km broad strip along the border. The outlet also said that some 30 villages have been badly damaged so far.

Why is Israel destroying so many buildings in these border villages? Random vengeance?

The truth is accidentally revealed by anti-Israel researcher Evan Hill: The blank patch (i.e., almost no buildings are damaged) between Ayta al-Shab and Yaroun is Rmaich. (1/4) https://t.co/kAwRnUy2nr pic.twitter.com/PDN2C2Aqqq

— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) November 3, 2024

Speaking to FT, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the “the first belt” was “progressing in terms of being cleaned of Hizbollah’s attack infrastructure”, adding the ground operation would continue “as long as it’s needed.”

Another Israeli military official said the Israeli operations in “the first line of Shia villages across the border [were] against very highly selected assets of Hizbollah,” and aimed to remove “the threat of any ground attack” in the future.

In its updates, the IDF has noted numerous times that targets that were struck in Lebanon had been intentionally hidden within civilian areas. “In that essence, we are dealing with what we call a militarised village,” the official added.

A similar report in Asharq Al-Awsat said that most of the 29 damaged towns are “completely destroyed, especially Ayta al-Shaab, Kafr Kila, Odaisseh, Houla, Dahra, Marwahin, Muhaibib and Khiam.”

כוחות אוגדה 91 ממשיכים לפעול נגד תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון.
הכוחות פשטו בימים האחרונים על מערכת פירים ותשתיות תת-קרקעיות, שכללו מרחבי שהייה והצטיידות, ואיתרו בהם אמצעי לחימה רבים>> pic.twitter.com/Eucq9ziBCm

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 16, 2024

The report estimated the number of destroyed housing units at around 25,000.

A military expert quoted in the report acknowledged that Israel wants a buffer zone: “Knowing that exposing this area would expose any potential threat later towards the northern settlements and avoiding the scenario of the al-Aqsa flood from southern Lebanon.”