Israel’s military has carried out roughly 1,200 ground raids into southern Lebanon over the past year, an unprecedented pace of cross-border operations that senior Israeli officers say has failed to halt Hezbollah’s expansion and may soon give way to a larger preemptive campaign, Jerusalem Post reported. 

According to Israeli military officials, the raids have become central to Israel’s effort to enforce the “zero-tolerance” doctrine adopted after the Oct. 7 attacks. Despite near-daily operations by Northern Command and the Air Force, officers say Hezbollah has continued strengthening its positions in villages deeper inside Lebanon.

The cross-border missions were carried out in and around 21 frontline villages, most of them Shiite communities stretching along the 140-kilometer frontier from Rosh HaNikra to Mount Dov. Troops crossed three to five kilometers into Lebanese territory on average, sometimes reaching a second belt of villages, to conduct patrols, ambushes and demolitions targeting suspected tunnels, weapons shafts and other infrastructure that went undetected during Operation Northern Arrows, which ended last year.

On most days, soldiers carried out three to five raids, often followed by Israeli drone strikes on Lebanese tractors that moved in to clear debris. The Israeli military says these vehicles are regularly used by Hezbollah operatives.

The figures were kept quiet for months to avoid provoking Hezbollah, though Israeli officials acknowledge the group has been fully aware of every incursion. The villages themselves remain almost entirely deserted; reconstruction has not resumed, and electricity, water and fuel networks are still degraded after months of Israeli pressure.

Senior officials say that in the years following the 2006 war, Hezbollah embedded firing positions, tunnels and anti-tank posts beneath newly rebuilt homes, creating what one officer described as “entire terror villages.” That infrastructure, along with border-adjacent Radwan Force staging points, was heavily degraded during Operation Northern Arrows and subsequent follow-up missions up until an agreement began taking effect earlier this year.

Commanders say the priority is preventing Hezbollah from returning in civilian disguise to gather intelligence or rebuild positions within five to ten kilometers of the border.

“If we identify an armed man seven or ten kilometers away, we take him out—after verifying he’s not a UNIFIL observer or a Lebanese soldier,” one officer said.

The Galilee Division today operates with two-and-a-half times the manpower and equipment it had before Oct. 7. Surveillance has become increasingly dependent on round-the-clock drone coverage of blind spots unreachable by fixed posts.

Troops frequently stop shepherds or civilians spotted near sensitive areas. Some are detained for questioning. “We’re still shaping the environment,” one officer said. “If Lebanon doesn’t take real steps to curb Hezbollah, we’ll have to keep operating this way for years, even at a cost.”

Officials argue that UNIFIL’s expected drawdown may ultimately strengthen Israel’s hand, saying the UN mission often obstructed rather than supported Israeli security efforts. The Lebanese Army, with four battalions in the south, occasionally receives orders to dismantle Hezbollah rocket launchers, but Israeli officers say these missions often fail—particularly when overseen by Shiite officers.

Israeli officials say they shared intelligence on 350 Hezbollah sites along the frontier with U.S. counterparts over the past year.

“We can’t rely on the Lebanese Army in those areas,” an Israeli military official said.

“The long-term strategic goal must be the disarmament of Hezbollah,” another senior official said. “That won’t happen through military action alone. Diplomatic and military pressure both have to continue. Hezbollah remains stronger than the Lebanese Army—we need to change that balance.”

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