Israel's General Staff says it has launched a pre-emptive offensive operation in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched an offensive operation in Lebanon and eliminates the military infrastructure of the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah". This was announced on September 23 by Israel's Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi.

"This morning the Israel Defense Forces launched a pre-emptive offensive operation. We are destroying the military infrastructure that Hezbollah has been building for 20 years. This is very important," said Halevy, whose words were quoted by The Times of Israel.

He added that the IDF is striking the movement's military facilities and preparing for the next stages. Israel's goal, Halevy said, is to allow displaced residents of the Jewish state to return home to the northern parts of the country.

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Earlier in the day, the IDF said it had launched another strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut. According to The Times of Israel, the target of the attack was a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, Ali Karaki. In addition, the army of the Jewish state told of massive strikes on the movement's facilities in Lebanon. The latter's emergency center reported the deaths of 100 people and more than 400 injured due to these attacks. Afterward, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in this way Israel is acting preemptively against the threat from Hezbollah.

In addition, pagers and other communication devices possessed by members of the movement were blown up in Lebanon on September 17 and 18. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that two waves of explosions killed at least 37 people and injured about 3,000. Lebanese authorities and representatives of Hezbollah blamed Israel for the incident.

On September 18, Jewish Defense Minister Yoav Galant transferred forces to the northern front, and the IDF began striking Hezbollah facilities on Lebanese territory. These attacks continued in the following days - on September 20, for example, the Israeli army strikes Beirut and at least 45 people are killed.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected Israel's territory to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded the border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.