'Post' witness to Hezbollah infrastructure, joins IDF in Lebanon in first since 2006

SOUTHERN LEBANON – A kitchen with advanced Kornet anti-tank missiles, a side room with an anti-aircraft gun, and a storage room with mortars.

These were the sights seen up close by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday with IDF Division 91, in a village in the eastern part of southern Lebanon, the first such trip for Israeli journalists since the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Since the invasion began on September 30, the IDF has been sharing pictures and videos of the weapons belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan special forces unit – thousands upon thousands of them in every village and house in southern Lebanon. They were planted by Radwan to be ready, at a moment’s notice, to invade and conquer the Galilee region; this was long before Hamas executed its own formulation of this plan.

Before October 7, Radwan had around 6,000 forces available to quickly invade Israel, broken down into six brigades and 16 battalions. This was later reduced to several hundred; after the IDF’s invasion, it may be down to dozens.

The IDF’s successes in southern Lebanon perhaps understate exactly how much of a threat Radwan posed. Israel’s fragile border fence would not have been able to withstand Radwan’s arsenal, leaving the North vulnerable to a catastrophic invasion.

The Post first witnessed these weapons on October 1 on the Israeli side of the border; they are even more powerful untouched by military hands and in their natural environments. 

Hezbollah's arsenal

The IDF announced on Thursday that Division 91’s Alexandroni Brigade 3 found around 800 military vests, numerous grenades, mines, guns, and other weapons in some of these villages, with one house alone containing dozens of vests, grenades, special high-caliber guns, and a variety of other weapons.

The IDF also announced on Thursday that Zaken Brigade 8 found large volumes of long-range Kornet anti-tank missiles in civilian houses in southern Lebanon.

Military sources revealed that brigades 3, 769 (reservist Golani soldiers), and 228 (reservist Nahal soldiers) have become accustomed to targeting specific Hezbollah positions from various directions.

Sources on Thursday said Division 91 has already fought 10 battles, in which dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been killed; the division lost five soldiers. A few on both sides were wounded as well.

A soldier told the Post of one battle, house-to-house, against a Hezbollah cell. The house initially appeared abandoned, but then the fighters attacked from a second set of rooms with gunfire and grenades. The IDF troops successfully eliminated every member of the cell, but in a rare occurrence, they also suffered eight casualties, all of which were minor injuries.

On the other side of the border, Kiryat Shmona stood abandoned and battered. At various points along the border fence, the military had recently created holes to allow troops to invade a number of areas.

Unlike the sandy desert topography of Gaza, the Lebanese topography varies from hilly to larger mountains, with significant and steep rock formations to navigate.

This made the ride in an IDF Hummer far more bumpy than the sands of Gaza. Gunfire was heard several times throughout the trip. Right as the group crossed into southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fired a series of rockets, all of which appeared to be shot down a few hundred meters away near the border fence.

Just hours before, around 40 such rockets were fired by Hezbollah; just a few hours after, 50 were fired at Nahariya, Acre, and the Upper Galilee, striking some sites. Explosions could be heard, likely a mix of Hezbollah structures exploding and airstrikes. Nearby, large-scale construction and D-9 equipment tore down Hezbollah structures.

Despite pre-war intelligence indicating that every fifth or third house had weapons, military sources discovered during the invasion that in certain villages, every single house had weapons.

“We are standing in one of the battle areas on the Lebanese front. We are acting to harm, neutralize, and destroy Radwan operatives and their attack plan in terms of their capabilities and infrastructure,” Division 91 Commander Brig.-Gen. Shai Kleper said.

“We are in a weapons storage area for Radwan [inside a village civilian house]. You can see hundreds of vests, mortars, mines… all the weapons they need. An operative could show up here in jeans and sandals, receive all of his war supplies, a map, and a plan of attack for which he was pre-trained,” he continued.

Kelper’s Division 91 is one of four in Lebanon, which also includes Brig.-Gen. Guy Levi’s Division 98, Brig.-Gen. Moran Omer’s Division 36, and Brig.-Gen. Yiftach Norkin’s Division 146.

And still, after the houses were destroyed, there were still so many more standing, not yet searched by the IDF.