Israeli forces have surrounded and begun targeted incursions into the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil, located just five kilometers from the Israeli border and described as a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israeli military officials said they expect to fully conquer the town by the end of the week as part of plans to establish a defensive line preventing Hezbollah terrorists from being able to launch anti-tank missiles at Israeli communities visible across the border.

Conquering Bint Jbeil is not only tactical, it is a major symbolic defeat for Hezbollah, which coordinated its hostile border activities from the town.

One of the first locations seized by Israeli troops was the local stadium. In 2000, as Israeli forces withdrew from their South Lebanon security zone, then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stood in that stadium and declared Israel to be no stronger than a cobweb.

“This Israel, with its nuclear weapons and most advanced warplanes in the region, I swear by Allah, is actually weaker than a spider’s web,” Nasrallah said. “Israeli society is war-weary and lacks the resilience to endure a bloody conflict or suffer casualties. Israel may appear strong from the outside, but it’s easily destroyed and defeated.”

After his troops took control of the area, Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, commander of the IDF’s 98th Paratroopers Division, told reporters: “Bint Jbeil in the year 2000. Someone stood here, in this field, and claimed that Israel is a cobweb filled with spiders that must be exterminated. Today, that man is gone, the compound is gone, and his words are worth nothing.”

Nasrallah was eliminated by Israel in Sept. 2024.

The IDF’s broader plans are to push Hezbollah forces north of the Litani River, an obligation Lebanon took on itself in the US-brokered ceasefire of November 2024 but failed to accomplish.

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