Israel launches ‘targeted’ invasions of Lebanon as world focuses on Iran war

by Sharon Zhang | Mar 17, 2026 | Article, Gaza, Iran, Israel, Politics and Movements: International, Reprint, War

This article was originally published by Truthout on Mar. 16, 2026. It is shared here under a  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

Israel announced on Monday that it is expanding its ground in southern Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah as Israel’s defense minister pledges that “hundreds of thousands” of people already forcibly displaced by Israeli attacks “will not return” for the indefinite future.

In a statement, Israeli forces said that soldiers are carrying out “limited and targeted ground operations” in southern Lebanon. The purpose is to “establish and strengthen a forward defensive posture … to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel,” the statement claims, ignoring that Hezbollah has maintained in previous conflicts that it would not retaliate against Israel if Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon.

Axios reported last week that Israel is planning a massive expansion of its ground invasion of Lebanon with the goal of seizing the entire area south of the Litani River. This area is protected under a UN Security Council resolution as part of a decades-old ceasefire agreement, and makes up about 8 percent of the area of the country.

A senior Israeli official told Axios the military is “going to do what we did in Gaza.”

Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire agreement in late 2024, but Israel violated it over 10,000 times in the first year, UN officials said. Now, Israel has unilaterally ended the ceasefire — though some argue Israel never adhered to it in the first place — and severely escalated bombardments and forced displacement in Lebanon, as the world focuses on Israel and the U.S.’s horrific war on Iran.

In just the past two weeks, Israel has killed over 880 people in Lebanon, including over 100 children and dozens

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