Put ‘boots on the grounds’ in Lebanon, say northern Israelis

Only solution to bring permanent peace to Galilee is to permanently remove Hezbollah threat, retired army general tells media

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For those living under the threat of deadly Hezbollah rocket fire in northern Israel the only enduring solution is to put “boots on the ground” in southern Lebanon, a retired Israeli general has told media.

The fear of an infiltration by the Lebanese militant group’s Radwan Force commandos has grown significantly since the Hamas-led October 7 attack, with villages preparing their own militias in defence.

That anxiety was evident as media visited northern Galilee when a salvo of rockets struck the city of Safed killing a female soldier and wounding nine others.

It is that constant barrage that has led those living in the region to urge the government to consider mounting an invasion to remove the Hezbollah threat.

“It will be safe to go back home to live here only if Hezbollah suffer the strong hand of the Israeli military,” Retd Brig Gen Ilan Lavi told media.

“There is no other choice, we cannot live near the border when Hezbollah can shoot direct fire into our houses.”

Cross-border clashes since October 8 on the border – when Hezbollah joined the latest war – have killed at least 268 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 40 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon three times in recent decades, firstly in 1978 and 1982, targeting Palestinian militants who were firing rockets into Israel, fighting bloody counterinsurgency campaigns as it became embroiled in the country’s complex civil war.

With the formation of Hezbollah during Israel’s 1985-2000 occupation of the south of the country, Iran-backed Shiite militancy became entrenched along the border and in 2006, the group attacked Israeli forces, killing two and kidnapping three.

In the ensuing 34-day war and Israeli ground incursion, about 1,200 Lebanese were killed, mostly civilians, and about 165 Israelis died, mostly soldiers.

Since October 7 more than 60,000 Israelis from the north have been evacuated from their farms and homes that sit within five kilometres of Lebanon’s border.

But there is a growing worry that Hezbollah could launch an attack with its 150,000 Iran-supplied missiles alongside a major ground infiltration.

That would be conducted by its force of 3,000 Radwan fighters who are well trained, many with combat experience from Syria’s civil war.

The force splits down into groups of about 25 who travel on quad bikes and SUVs to infiltrate towns around the border. “These are elite commando soldiers, it’s not a simple force, it’s a strong force, different to Hamas,” said Brig Gen Lavi, former chief of staff for Israel’s Northern Command.

Sarit Zehavi, a former lieutenant colonel in Israeli intelligence, said the Radwan were much more skilled than the Hamas force that attacked on October 7.

“Hezbollah’s warriors are a more experienced and professional army because of what they did in Syria and if they invaded Israel and we are not prepared, it will be much more successful.”