Follow Steve Postal: @HebraicMosaic
—————
Through methodical intelligence gathering and pre-emptive strikes, Israel prevented Hezbollah from repeating Hamas’ October 7 genocide in northern Israel. According to a presser by IDF Real Admiral Daniel Hagari, Hezbollah had named its foiled plan “Conquer the Galilee,” and had been working on this plan “for years.” The following are key highlights from Hagari’s presser.
According to the IDF, 2,400 terrorists from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force and 500 terrorists from Palestinian Islamic Jihad were embedded in villages in South Lebanon preparing to invade Israel’s north shortly after October 7.
However, Israel anticipated an impending attack from Lebanon during that time, so it increased its defensive posture in the north in response. Additionally, the IDF targeted Radwan forces in many villages in southern Lebanon, forcing Radwan to retreat. The IDF engaged in limited missions into southern Lebanonlasting up to three to four days at a time. In total, the IDFexecuted “70 small raids” or “200 nights’ worth” of missions in southern Lebanon since October 7 and prior to Israel’s current overt incursion into southern Lebanon.
As a result of Israel’s pre-emptive missions, the IDF found significant weapons caches in many southern Lebanon villages, including “assault rifles, machine guns, RPGs, anti-tank missiles, explosive devices, mines, mortars, and equipment such as walkie-talkies.” These weapons also included “advanced, Iranian-made weapons.” In total, the IDF raided 1,000 Hezbollah sites, and “exposed and dismantled over 700 Hezbollah terror assets.”
One of IDF’s focus was on “hundreds of terrorist targets” in the Lebanese village of Meiss El Jabal, which is only “a few hundred meters away” from Israel’s Kiryat Shmona. Hezbollah’s attacks since October 8 had forced most of Kiryat Shmona’s residents to flee to other parts of Israel. The IDF disclosed one house that Hezbollah used in Meiss El Jabal to store a weapons cache via a “underground infrastructure” created by the terror group. Hezbollah also intended this infrastructure to serve as a staging area for Conquer the Galilee. The basement in turn led to a tunnel 150 meters long.
Additionally, the IDF conducted “hundreds of strikes and operations” against Hezbollah in Kfarkela, which is “a few hundred meters away” from Israel’s Metula. Similar to Kiryat Shmona, “Metula has been one of the most heavily-attacked Israeli communities over the last year,” according to Hagari. TheIDF disclosed one house that Hezbollah used in Kfarkela thatled to a tunnel system that in turn led to a “weapons storage facility” that was intended to be used during Conquer the Galilee.
The third example that Hagari gave was in the Lebanese region of Nurit. “Since the beginning of the war, IDF troops have struck hundreds of Hezbollah targets including military outposts, rocket launchers and weapons storage facilities in the area,” Hagari stated. IDF raids found “…a weapons storage facility, a command and control center, and preparation and living spaces for Hezbollah terrorists,” among other things.
Through the hard work and ingenuity of the IDF, Israel was able to avoid a second October 7 mega-attack. The sinister nature of the Conquer the Galilee plan show how imperative it is for Israel to destroy Hezbollah and Hezbollah-adjacent terror groups, and to finally lead Israelis back to their homes in the north.
