IDF Golani Brigade: Fighting terrorism from Gaza to Lebanon

On October 2, the IDF Golani Brigade began operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah. This is the war it had been anticipating for much of the past year. 

The Golani Brigade is part of the IDF’s 36th Division. In operations in Lebanon it was joined by the 188th Armored Brigade and the 6th Infantry Brigade.

The Golani has come through fire to get to this point. Its 13th Battalion was one of two Golani battalions on the Gaza border on Oct. 7 when the Hamas attack took place. The unit suffered grievous casualties. 

Lt. Tomer Bargon is a computer and communications officer in his battalion. This part of the unit is responsible for all the radio and data that are used and collected on the battlefield. In an increasingly hi-tech world of warfare, this matters more than in the past. It plays a huge role, he says, in how units can “close the circle” in terms of bringing the fight to the enemy. 

This means that if a unit of soldiers, such as the Golani infantry, runs into an enemy, they can call in other units and coordinate with the Air Force, tanks, and other forces faster. The “circle” is the circle of fire in which an enemy is identified and then eliminated. “We can know exactly where every soldier is moving so we can ensure and minimize the possibility of friendly fire and bring all the information that our attackers in the first line have to the brigade,” he says.

Bargon has played a key role in the unit’s operations since Oct. 7. Many of his comrades have been killed, such as Capt. Idan Bloy, 21, a signals officer from Golani 13, who fought valiantly at the Nahal Oz outpost but was killed during the battle for the IDF base there when it was overrun on Oct. 7. Numerous Golani soldiers were killed, while other soldiers from the IDF observation unit were kidnapped. Bargon served under Bloy, and then replaced him after he fell.

Later, in the battle of Shejaia in northern Gaza, Bargon’s commander, Lt.-Col. Tomer Grinberg, was also killed. Grinberg was the leader of the 13th Battalion and fought bravely during the battle to push terrorists out of Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 and 8. Bargon has served in his key position as communications officer in the unit since 2023.

“On Oct. 7, my battalion was in charge of defending many of the communities and kibbutzim on the border of Gaza, such as Nahal Oz, Kfar Aza, Be’eri,” he recalls. “Our battalion was involved in one of the hardest fights. We lost 41 soldiers.” A 42nd soldier from the unit succumbed to wounds he suffered on Oct. 7. 

Moving forward, undeterred

For a battalion of young soldiers to lose so many men is unprecedented in Israel’s history. These grievous losses would usually break the morale of similarly-sized units in other wars. However, in this war the Golani have kept going forward again and again.

Bargon recalls how during Oct. 7 he accompanied Grinberg as the commander drove to Kfar Aza. “It was very hard. Afterwards, we spent a week and a half defending those villages from another attack. We eliminated the remaining terrorists that had invaded the country.”

Like 300,000 other soldiers called up in the wake of Oct. 7, the Golani then prepared for the war ahead. They trained and began preparing to enter Gaza. 

“It was a difficult two weeks, and after that we began the operation. We took over strategic places [in Gaza] such as Shejaia, El-Bureij, and Maghazi,” he says. 

Grinberg’s death affected Bargon deeply. He says he was very close to the commander. Nevertheless, he continued with the unit as they completed their mission. 

The battle for Shejaia also conjured up past memories for Golani, as they had fought there in the 2014 war; one of the armored personnel carriers had been struck with an RPG in the fighting, and men had been killed. When the unit returned to Shejaia in 2023, it was clear it was returning to fight the same enemy and wanted to bring renewed glory to the unit, to fight in this place where Israeli soldiers had lost their lives.

‘Gideon’ battalion

After fighting in Gaza for four months, the Golani were pulled out along with the 36th Division to northern Israel to begin preparing for war against Hezbollah. The North is familiar ground for the Golani. They usually train there and have been ready for the war in Lebanon for years. The initial deployment after leaving Gaza put the Golani in areas near Mount Meron and the border of Lebanon.

“What’s unique about our battalion is the ability to operate in such situations,” Bargon says. The 13th Battalion’s nickname is “Gideon.” Bargon says that “every fighter that serves in this battalion feels this battalion is strong and the soldiers really understand it is their duty.” He speaks about the sense among the men that they have a duty to recover from the tragedy of Oct. 7 and excel.

In Gaza, he says the group faced off against an enemy that was a terrorist organization. In time, Hamas became less organized and went to ground, becoming a kind of “guerrilla organization,” he says. “You feel it. Also with the weapons, the structures and buildings and command centers, and more. You understand that you are fighting with terrorists who are not organized.”

Having served now in the opening phase of the war in Lebanon, which began on October 1, Bargon contrasts Hezbollah with Hamas. 

“Hezbollah as an organization is a lot more complex than Hamas. It has weapons in quantities and quality that you can’t compare to Hamas. Also how Hezbollah itself is organized – it is a lot more complex than Hamas. However, in the end, it’s a terrorist organization, and so for me there is not such a big difference,” he says. 

Full year of the fight

The Golani have had so much experience this year that the spirit of the unit and its morale is high. Soldiers have been promoted and changed jobs over the last year. 

Bargon compares the unit to a lion that has been kept in a kind of cage in the North, waiting to get out and fight Hezbollah. This is because the IDF had to spend most of the year on the defensive against Hezbollah as the Iranian-backed group attacked northern Israel with rockets and drones.

Bargon now plays a key role in aiding the unit to bring in fire support and direct communications. He wants to stay in the army. “I feel a responsibility for my nation, and I think that this time I can’t go out. The army and nation need us, strong people, to do their job. At least in my small area of responsibility that I need to do, I think it’s important to bring out the information from this war to the next generation and educate them [about] our enemies.” 

He says the IDF has done a good job supporting soldiers throughout the past year. That means mental and emotional support, as well for units like this, which have seen the harshness of this war and suffered losses. “I and my soldiers have the opportunity to see a psychiatrist and get the medical treatment they [we] need every time,” he says.

Bargon spoke to me briefly when he was out of Lebanon after the first week of fighting. Now he and his comrades will continue to play the key role in the battle against Hezbollah. In the early days of the war, the IDF said that in a joint operation, the Golani Brigade and the Israeli Air Force struck a military structure housing Hezbollah terrorist organization commanders. 

“In another strike, the forces identified suspicious enemy movement in a military structure. The forces directed aircraft activity, and within minutes the structure was struck and the terrorists were eliminated,” the IDF said on October 3.

Days later, the unit raided and dismantled a weapons storage facility and terrorist infrastructure embedded inside civilian homes. 

“Inside the storage facility, the soldiers found weapons, observation equipment, launchers, and intelligence documents belonging to Hezbollah,” the IDF said. On October 4, the commander of IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, met with the head of the Golani Brigade, Brig. Gen. Adi Ganon. 

“From where we stand, we can see the [Israeli] communities along the border. Our ground activity here is a significant step toward safely returning the residents of the North to their homes, toward a better year than the previous one,” Gordin said.

By October 8, the Golani had taken control of a Hezbollah compound in the village of Maroun El Ras in southern Lebanon. As the unit moved forward, it also found large quantities of Hezbollah weapons. In one site, soldiers uncovered “Kornet missiles, numerous AT-3 Sagger missiles, and over 100 mortars,” the IDF said. The Golani continued to suffer losses, though. A Hezbollah drone struck Golani soldiers at a training base near Binyamina, and Golani soldiers have been casualties in Lebanon.

On October 18, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi spoke to Golani commanders in southern Lebanon. “We estimate that there are around 1,500 eliminated Hezbollah operatives; this and the fact that they are surrendering – these are very important achievements,” he said. He was conducting a field visit with the Golani and 188th Brigade, as well as the 36th Division. 

With soldiers like Bargon in key aspects of the operation, the Golani are moving forward and dismantling Hezbollah as they dismantled Hamas in parts of northern Gaza. 