Israel doubles troops in Hezbollah fight, searches homes in south Lebanon

By Pesha Magid

EILON, Israel, March 18 (Reuters) - Israel has more than doubled the number of troops along its border with Lebanon since March 1 and they are searching homes in southern Lebanese villages that the military has ordered evacuated, a senior Israeli commander said on Wednesday.

As Israeli warplanes pound Beirut in operations against Hezbollah that have become the deadliest spillover of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, heavy smoke could be seen rising from villages in southern Lebanon as troops fired artillery across the border.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon since Israel ordered people to clear the area south of the Litani River, viewed by Israel as a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah. The group has been firing rockets toward Israel since joining the war in support of Iran on March 2.

'DEFENSIVE POSITIONS' INSIDE LEBANON

"The plan is to make sure that Hezbollah does not have military infrastructure," said the commander, whose name was withheld by the Israeli military on security grounds.

Speaking to Reuters in Eilon, an Israeli town four kilometres from the border, the commander, who is responsible for infantry warfare in Lebanon, declined to say how many troops Israel had now deployed in the area.

Describing the military's fortifications inside Lebanon as "defensive positions", he said troops were searching "the villages to see if Hezbollah hid weapons or communications centres".

Asked if that included searching houses that residents had fled following Israeli orders, the commander said: "In some of the cases they hid their weapons in houses. We have no choice but to make sure that house is not a military installation."

Hezbollah has publicly denied using civilian infrastructure to store weapons. It accuses Israel of destroying homes to prevent Lebanese from returning, something Israel denies. Many villages in southern Lebanon have been completely destroyed.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of operations in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military says.

At least 968 people in Lebanon have been killed since the start of Israel's attacks, Lebanese authorities say.

Hezbollah has not provided regular updates on deaths among its fighters. On Monday, a Hezbollah official told Reuters that at least 46 had been killed so far.

LEBANESE VILLAGE OF KHIYAM AN INITIAL TARGET

The Israeli military is advancing slowly through southern Lebanon, aiming to completely clear the town of Khiyam as a first step before advancing toward the Litani River, according to a Lebanese security source and a foreign official tracking developments on the ground.

In response to a question on whether Israel intended to establish positions up to the Litani, the commander said it was not his decision. If troops receive orders, he added, they are "prepared to do all kind of operations".

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on its operations in Khiyam, five kilometres inside the Lebanese border from the Israeli town of Metula.

Along the border near Metula, Reuters saw several Israeli military fortifications dug into hillsides, filled with rows of tanks, armed personnel carriers, and bulldozers.

Smoke rose from Khiyam throughout the day on Wednesday, and many of the buildings on the southern side of the town had been reduced to rubble. A neighbouring town remains in ruins from Israel's attacks in 2024.

'EVERY FIVE MINUTES YOU CAN HEAR THE BOMBS'

Israel's northern border area with Lebanon is known as the Upper Galilee, its rolling hills offering vantages into southern Lebanese villages now occupied and bombarded by Israeli troops.

Near Metula, Israeli Apache helicopters and jets were making near-constant sorties on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the sounds of rocket fire from Lebanon interspersed with the booms of Israeli artillery fire.

For residents of Israel's far north, the current war with Hezbollah has seen less rocket fire than during a year of fighting that ended in 2024.

Hezbollah's ability to launch missiles has largely been degraded, but it still retains capacity to strike areas deep inside Israel, Israeli officials say.

Ofer Moskovitz, 60, who works at an avocado farm in the area, and said being so close to the border meant he had little time to run to a bomb shelter when sirens signalled incoming Hezbollah fire.

Near his farm, the military dug out a muddy fortification from where troops fired artillery across the border.

"Every five minutes you can hear the bombs," he said.

(Additional reporting by Maya GebeilyEditing by Rami Ayyub and Gareth Jones)