Are Israeli moves and strikes a prelude to a military operation?
The current Israeli movements, detonations, strikes and shelling "appear to be a prelude to a military operation" in south Lebanon, given that the strikes "are targeting all the high ground surrounding the Ali al-Taher hill, especially the al-Dabsheh hill and the al-Tahra hill, two hills that were under Israeli control before the Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, security sources in south Lebanon said.
“Israeli operations and raids are concentrated on three axes. In the eastern sector, airstrikes and artillery shelling are targeting the area surrounding the strategic Ali al-Taher heights, located east of Nabatieh, which Israeli forces have been attempting to capture for the past ten weeks. In the central sector, incursions and raids are targeting four towns that serve as a gateway to Bint Jbeil. Finally, similar movements and detonations have been reported in the coastal towns of Majdal Zoun and al-Mansouri in southwestern Lebanon,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
The sources noted that the focus on the hills and the destruction of homes around Ali al-Taher means that Israeli forces are "trying to completely isolate the strategic hill from its surroundings, prevent movement on its outskirts, and create a buffer zone of more than three kilometers between the hill and the vital areas to which some residents have returned."
For a week, repeated airstrikes have targeted houses under construction and palaces in Dawhet Kfar Rumman, north of Ali al-Taher, and Nabatieh al-Fawqa, southwest of the hill, in addition to the continued demolition and bombing of houses in the town of Kfar Tebnit, located directly west of the hill.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to bombard the high ground, which extends from south to north over a distance of 1.5 kilometers, with artillery and phosphorus shells, as well as dropping explosives on it via drones and detonating them.
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