Lebanon: Israeli troops advance to border as full-scale invasion appears only hours away

The situation on the Lebanese border has reached a flashpoint with reports that Israeli troops have advanced and a full-scale invasion is imminent.

Hezbollah has ramped up its missile attacks as thousands of IDF troops, tanks and weaponry roll toward the border intent on what now seems an all-out ground offensive into Lebanon that could happen within hours.

Israeli air strikes continue to hammer Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, as well as the Beqaa Valley after the body of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was recovered from a deep crater in Beirut following a strike that killed the terror chief on Saturday, as the Axis of Resistance rallies against Israel’s “horrible crime”.

Nasrallah’s death dealt a particularly significant blow to the group that he led for 32 years, and it was followed by new Hezbollah rocket fire on Israel, while Iran said his death would be avenged.

The vow of vengeance comes as the Houthis say they too will seek revenge for Israeli strikes in Yemen.

Israel launched bombs at Houthi targets in Yemen in response to missiles fired by the Iran-aligned rebels at Israel in recent days.

The Israeli strikes killed at least four people and wounded 33, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said in a statement, and residents said the bombing had caused power outages in most parts of the port city of Hodeidah.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned that “no place is too far” for the military to strike.

“I visited the IAF (Israeli Air Force) command and control room, where I followed the strike conducted against the Houthi terrorist organisation.

“Our message is clear - for us, no place is too far.”

Israel’s military said in a statement that dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, had attacked power plants and a seaport in Hodeidah and the port of Ras Issa.

Footage of a fiery explosion in Yemen quickly circulated on social media showing the destruction from the targeted strikes.

News Corp is reporting that hundreds of Israeli Merkava IV tanks, armoured bulldozers and recovery vehicles are lined up close to the border and are set for the incursion.

The last time Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon in 2006 Hezbollah fought them to a standstill over 34 days.

After almost two weeks of bombing that has obliterated towns along the border and left a thousand people dead, almost half a million people have been displaced.

“We let them build up again on our border after 2006 and that was a mistake,” said Yuval, 39, a Briton and infantry reservist whose parents moved to Israel in the 1970s.

“Now there’s not a chance in hell we’ll let them sit on our border. The world doesn’t like conflict but whether it’s with airstrikes or an invasion, we need to move them. The soldiers are ready, the tanks are ready. We know they’re waiting for us.”

Israeli counteroffensive measures against Hezbollah over the past month have neutralised members of its leadership chain and substantially degraded its command-and-control structure, access to munitions, and ability to communicate, and withered the morale of frontline troops.

“He wasn’t another terrorist, he was THE terrorist … the central ­engine of Iran’s axis of evil,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of Hassan Nasrallah, having authorised the strike by phone from a hotel in New York, not long before addressing the UN General Assembly.

The US was informed of the ­decision only once a fleet of F-151 fighter jets was en route from the southern Israeli air force base of Hatzerim, where commanders watched the strike unfold.

Mr Netanyahu said in the aftermath of the strike that “there’s ­nowhere beyond our reach”, seemingly a warning to Iran as it considers any retaliatory action. In July, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by an explosive device in the Iranian capital of Tehran, an attack widely attributed to Israel’s security services.

— with Reuters.