Netanyahu Orders Deeper Military Incursion into Lebanon Targeting Hezbollah

Prime Minister (PM) of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered Israeli military forces to advance deeper into Lebanon in a ground combat operation against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Fighting has resumed in Lebanon despite a ceasefire being announced over six weeks ago. Lebanon has been drawn into the Middle East conflict after Hezbollah launched rocket and drone attacks against Israel in support of Tehran. Over 1.2 million Lebanese citizens have been displaced due to Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since 2 March. According to Lebanese government data, over 3,370 people have died from Israeli strikes since early March. Tel Aviv separately reported 24 soldiers and four civilians killed during the same period. Tens of thousands of residents in northern Israel have also been displaced due to Hezbollah attacks. In recent developments, Israeli forces have captured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle, a strategic hilltop area in southern Lebanon. This occurred a day after major attacks on northern Israel, which prompted school closures and movement restrictions. “I have instructed (the Israeli military) to expand ground manoeuvres in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said in a recent statement on Sunday (31 May), according to Reuters and Al Arabiya on Monday (1 June 2026). Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have continued exchanging attacks since the ceasefire was announced in mid-April. Hezbollah has employed low-cost, easily assembled kamikaze drones that are difficult to intercept by air defences, which have killed several Israeli soldiers deployed in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has controlled areas up to the Litani River in southern Lebanon but is now advancing towards the Zaharani River area, approximately 10 kilometres north. Netanyahu stated his aim is to “deepen and expand our grip in areas under Hezbollah control”. In a video statement released after the Israeli military announced the capture of Beaufort, according to AFP, Netanyahu said: “We have come together again, resolute, and stronger than before.” “Now, my directive is to deepen and expand our grip in areas under Hezbollah control. The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic phase and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading,” he stressed. Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, separately stated that Tel Aviv’s forces “have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there”. He said Israeli forces would maintain Beaufort as part of Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon. “The campaign is not over. We are all determined to destroy Hezbollah’s strength,” Katz stressed.