Israel's Ali al-Taher operation ends: Questions over Hezbollah's response remain

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi
 
The scene left behind by 1,100 tons of explosives was enough for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to claim an initial victory in what has become Israel’s longest war, which is set to enter its third year in about a month.

The destruction at Ali al-Taher hill, which had posed one of the biggest challenges to the Israeli army for months, has provided Netanyahu with a political lifeline as he faces growing pressure just weeks before elections. His support has fallen to three points below that of his strongest rival, Gadi Eisenkot.

Israel celebrated the scene, with Netanyahu declaring that Iran and what he called its “axis of evil” are weaker than ever.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to continue military operations against Hezbollah following the explosion, referring to the area Israel considers a security zone in South Lebanon. He described it as stretching from the coast in the west to Beaufort Castle and the approaches to Mount Hermon in the east.

Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, meanwhile, said the “Yellow Line” would remain under Israeli control without any changes. He called on the Lebanese army to demonstrate its effectiveness on the ground, warning that otherwise the framework agreement would not move forward.

The next question is whether Iran and Hezbollah will respond to the destruction of Ali al-Taher or whether the crisis surrounding the hill has ended with the completion of the operation.

That has become the million-dollar question in Israel, where officials have struggled to assess the likelihood and scale of a response 24 hours after the operation. Israeli forces have nevertheless been placed on the highest level of alert in Lebanon and along the border, as well as on other fronts, amid concerns that Iran or Hezbollah could use the Jewish New Year holiday to launch a response.

As for the battlefield itself, statements by Israeli military officials suggest that the Ali al-Taher area was free of Hezbollah personnel when the main operation was carried out. According to those accounts, the operation was conducted gradually to push Hezbollah fighters out of the area.

In the first stage, Israeli commando forces took control of the area above ground through offensive operations that included ambushes, the use of grenades and drones, and fire directed at tunnel entrances, as well as at positions and infrastructure where Hezbollah activity had been detected.

The second stage, which the Israeli army described as the more complex phase, began after control had been consolidated over the open terrain and key positions along the mountain range. The army then moved underground, with the operation carried out by the Commando Brigade and units including Egoz, Maglan, Yahalom and Golani, as well as the 7th Brigade.