Northern Israelis prepare for Hezbollah attack amid calls for pre-emptive strike on Lebanon
For those living under the threat of deadly Hezbollah rocket fire in northern Israel, the only enduring solution is to put “boots on the ground” in southern Lebanon, a retired Israeli general has told The National.
The fear of an infiltration by the Lebanese group’s Radwan Force has grown significantly since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, and villages are preparing their own militias in defence.
The anxiety was evident as The National visited northern Galilee, when a salvo of rockets struck the city of Safed, killing a female soldier and wounding nine others.
Incidents like this have prompted residents to urge the government to consider invading Lebanon to remove the Hezbollah threat.
“It will be safe to go back home to live here only if Hezbollah suffer the strong hand of the Israeli military,” Brig Gen Ilan Lavi said.
“There is no other choice, we cannot live near the border when Hezbollah can shoot direct fire into our houses.”
Since October 8, Israel’s cross-border clashes with Hezbollah have killed at least 268 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 40 civilians, AFP said.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, the Israeli army says.
More than 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their farms and homes within 5km of the northern border.
But there is a growing worry that Hezbollah could launch an attack with its 150,000 Iran-supplied missiles alongside a major ground incursion. That would be conducted by its 3,000-strong Radwan Force, which includes many fighters with combat experience from Syria’s civil war.
“These are elite commando soldiers, it’s not a simple force, it’s a strong force, different to Hamas,” said Brig Gen Lavi, the former chief of staff of Israel’s Northern Command.
Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli intelligence officer, said the Radwan Force was much more skilled than the Hamas fighters who attacked on October 7.
“Hezbollah’s warriors are a more experienced and professional army because of what they did in Syria, and if they invaded Israel and we are not prepared, it will be much more successful,” she said.
These concerns have pushed many, including Brig Gen Lavi, to favour a pre-emptive attack.
“The only way it can be resolved is if Israel removes Hezbollah as a military entity,” said Brig Gen Lavi, who has two children serving in the Israeli army.
“There can be a limited war using our strike capabilities without putting boots on the ground, and then there can be boots on the ground.
“Israel has a lot of capabilities, but ultimately if you want to win a war, you need to put boots on the ground.”
The US and France are leading efforts to establish a ceasefire to allow those displaced by the clashes to return home. But Ms Zehavi believes a truce would not bring an enduring peace to the region.
“The problem is that the ceasefire now being engineered, is a ceasefire that is not going to be a solution,” she said. “It’s going to be just a ceasefire.”
She said a ceasefire that would involve Israel withdrawing most of its troops from the border would play into Hezbollah’s hands. “It’s to make us go to sleep, to deceive us, then Hezbollah will choose the timing of an invasion,” she said. “Who is going to go back and live in the country if this problem is not solved?”
Should Hezbollah launch an incursion, the first resistance it met would be civilian militias known as the Rapid Reaction Force.
More than 1,000 RRF members sit in control rooms and patrol their towns 24 hours a day, while working as farmers or IT specialists.
The National spoke to Sivan Yechieli, who leads the RRF in Kfar Vradim, less than 9km from the border. “If there is an infiltration, then we want to contain it,” he said.
“It’s like an energy wave that comes in, and we absorb some of that energy to slow it down, especially in a killing spree.”
Armed with semi-automatic weapons, radios and knowledge of the terrain, the RRF’s patrols are always ready.
During the October 7 attacks, a team of 12 RRF members, aged between 26 and 59, fended off Hamas militants for three hours at Kibbutz Nir Am.
“Armed people who can cope and actually engage the enemy make a huge difference,” said Mr Yechieli. “If you’re ready, rather than looking for your weapons, the results are much different.”
Before driving to an army base a few kilometres from the border, Ms Zehavi said that the road came under regular attack from anti-tank missiles that the Iron Dome defence system cannot intercept.
“They are very accurate and very scary,” she said.
The Israeli military called off the visit to the base, but Ms Zehavi’s warning served as a glimpse into the anxiety experienced in the region.
“It’s an existential fear,” said Ms Zehavi.
“As a mother, since October 7, I get up every morning and I look at my little girl and say: ‘I don’t know how this day is going to end’.”
Mr Yechieli said that, while the tension was always there, it was something people learnt to live with.
“The fear level, we get used to it,” he said. “It’s like an earthquake or volcano eruption. At the beginning you think it’s inconceivable, then people just try to get back to their lives – but they still remain afraid.”