Tel Aviv – The Israeli military began preparing to reoccupy southern Lebanon on Thursday, and Israeli officials conceded that their three-week bombing campaign has had no significant impact on Hezbollah’s ability to fire short-range rockets into northern Israel.
The dispatch of thousands of Israeli soldiers to retake as much as one-fifth of Lebanon – the operation must still be approved by the Israeli Cabinet – would mark a major expansion in Israel’s Lebanon campaign and would reverse Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon six years ago after an 18-year occupation.
It also would complicate efforts in the United Nations to arrange a cease-fire and the creation of an international peacekeeping force to police southern Lebanon.
Senior military officials suggest Israel may have little choice, however. On Thursday, one official admitted the air war had failed to cripple Hezbollah’s ability to fire the shortrange Katyusha rockets, which form the bulk of the militant Islamic group’s aerial arsenal.
“They are still in full capacity to attack our villages,” said the official, who briefed reporters about the military campaign against Hezbollah on the condition of anonymity. “In order to stop the firing, we need a major ground offensive against the short-range rockets.”
To prove the point, Hezbollah fired at least 200 rockets, killing eight people across northern Israel.
Four Israeli soldiers also were killed while fighting in southern Lebanon, making Thursday the deadliest day for Israel since fighting began July 12, after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in northern Israel.
The military plans came as Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to strike Tel Aviv if Israel continues bombarding Beirut.
“If you bomb our capital Beirut, we will bomb the capital of your usurping entity. We will bomb Tel Aviv,” Nasrallah said in a taped address played on Hezbollah’s television news station, Al-Manar.
Threats of a dramatic escalation from both sides added urgency to negotiations at the United Nations to force a quick cease-fire to end a conflict that’s taken nearly 1,000 lives, created 900,000 Lebanese refugees and raised fears of a further destabilized Middle East.
Since Hezbollah sparked the conflict, 68 Israelis have been killed.
Nearly two-thirds of those killed have been Israeli soldiers. In response, Israel unleashed a massive air campaign that’s killed some 900 Lebanese, most of them civilians.
Until now, Israel has used a relatively limited number of artillery batteries, tanks and soldiers to push Hezbollah back from the border.
