Israel Begins Its Long-Planned Ground Invasion of Lebanon

Israel has initiated a long-planned ground invasion of Lebanon, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing regional conflict.

“Israel’s US-backed war against Lebanon has entered a new and bloody stage with the start of a long-prepared ground invasion conducted under the umbrella of the widening imperialist war against Iran”

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The offensive began on March 1, 2026, when Israel moved beyond intensive air and artillery strikes to deploy ground troops across Lebanese territory.

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According to humanitarian reports from Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), Israel has concentrated military operations in southern Lebanon, expanding beyond the five positions it has occupied since November 2024.

Defence Minister Israel Katz publicly authorized these incursions, stating he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the army to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has denounced these attacks as violations of Lebanese sovereignty and 'a fully-fledged crime,' emphasizing that they target civilians and force mass displacement.

The offensive represents a major shift in Israel's military strategy against Hezbollah, moving from border skirmishes to a full-scale ground operation.

The scale and objectives of Israel's Lebanon offensive reveal plans for a large-scale invasion targeting the entire area south of the Litani River—roughly the southern third of Lebanon.

According to Axios, Israeli officials are planning this massive operation based on the claim that they intend to 'dismantle Hezbollah's military infrastructure,' describing the incursion as the largest operation in Lebanon since 2006.

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A senior Israeli official bluntly stated, 'We are going to do what we did in Gaza,' explaining that the goal is 'to take over territory, push Hezbollah's forces north and away from the border, and dismantle its military positions and weapons depots in the villages.'

This statement exposes the invasion as not merely a border security action but a planned occupation of Lebanese territory combined with the systematic destruction modeled on the genocidal campaign in Gaza.

The offensive aims to transform the region south of the Litani into a demilitarized cordon under Israeli control, effectively tearing up the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 war.

The humanitarian impact of Israel's Lebanon invasion has been catastrophic, with UN agencies estimating that between 750,000 and nearly 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced so far.

“Israel’s US-backed war against Lebanon has entered a new and bloody stage with the start of a long-prepared ground invasion conducted under the umbrella of the widening imperialist war against Iran”

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TRT World, citing UNICEF data, reports that over the past 28 months 329 children were killed and 1,632 injured by Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, with child fatalities standing at 412 in the last six days alone.

The offensive combines air strikes, artillery barrages and ground invasion to destroy infrastructure, displace massive sections of the population and create conditions of famine, disease and social collapse reminiscent of Gaza.

Israeli strikes have repeatedly hit residential areas under the pretext of targeting Hezbollah, as evidenced by a BBC report on the aftermath of an Israeli strike that killed an entire family, with relatives insisting the victims were civilians and not Hezbollah fighters, contradicting claims by the IDF.

Behind the pseudo-legal phrasing about 'terrorist infrastructure' is a campaign of collective punishment directed at entire communities in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut—Dahieh—where Israeli strikes have repeatedly hit residential areas.

The Lebanese ground invasion cannot be understood apart from the broader regional strategy being executed by US imperialism and its Israeli ally in the expanding war against Iran.

These atrocities are being perpetrated with the full military, political and diplomatic backing from the Trump administration, which has openly welcomed the illegal Lebanese invasion into its expanding regional war against Iran.

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Israeli commanders have told news media they intend to conclude the campaign by significantly degrading Iran's regional position, implicitly presenting Lebanese territory as a battlefield in the war against Tehran.

The same propaganda used during the destruction of Gaza—claims that 'terror tunnels,' 'human shields' and the 'violence' of Hamas was the reason for the Israeli slaughter of more than 70,000 Palestinians—is now being reproduced almost verbatim to justify the onslaught against Lebanon with Hezbollah being held responsible this time.

For years, Israeli officials, think-tank strategists and retired generals have argued for a renewed 'security zone' in Lebanon, closely resembling the occupation regime Israel maintained through its proxy South Lebanon Army from 1978 until its formal withdrawal in 2000.