Israeli army says has fully surrounded Bint Jbeil
The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had completely surrounded a key town in southern Lebanon after killing more than 100 Hezbollah fighters there over the past week.
The announcement marks a significant advance in Israel's ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon.
"The forces of the 98th Division have completed the encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil and have begun an assault on it," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
Over the past week, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town in "face-to-face" clashes and with air strikes, he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that since Sunday the fighting in southern Lebanon had been "concentrated" in Bint Jbeil.
"The fighting continues. It has not stopped -- it is ongoing all the time. Yesterday and today it has been concentrated in Bint Jbeil," he said, according to a video statement released by his office on Monday.
Netanyahu said that Israeli troops were pushing Hezbollah fighters away from the border.
"We are talking about a solid security belt, deeper than before, one that prevents the danger of infiltration and pushes back the anti-tank threat," he said.
"They are also dealing with the terror villages that were right up against us -- every terror position, and there were many, has simply been flattened."
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it has been engaged for days in clashes with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil.
Just five kilometers (three miles) from the Israeli border, Bint Jbeil has long been both a symbolic and strategic flashpoint in confrontations between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
It was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the 2006 war, when Hezbollah's resistance there became central to the group's narrative of defiance.
- 'Intense clashes' -
It was from the stadium in Bint Jbeil in 2000 that the group's former chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered the "Liberation" speech following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
"Full operation control of Bint Jbeil will be achieved within days," an Israeli military official told AFP.
"At this stage, Hezbollah is limited in Bint Jbeil and can no longer conduct attacks on northern Israeli communities from this area."
On Thursday, Hezbollah said it was engaged in "point-blank" clashes with Israeli forces in the town.
Since then, the group has repeatedly reported targeting Israeli forces and vehicles there, most recently on Sunday, when the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported "intense clashes" in the town.
On Monday, the NNA reported Israeli artillery shelling at the town's entrance.
The escalation in Bint Jbeil comes as diplomatic efforts to contain the cross‑border fighting have risen over the past few days.
Israeli and Lebanese officials are set to hold talks on Tuesday in Washington to end the war.
Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on February 28.
Israel responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion.
During a visit to troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israeli forces had eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants.
But he added: "There is still more to do, and we are doing it."
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that Israel wants to establish a "security zone" in south Lebanon to help prevent Hezbollah attacks.
Source: Agence France Presse
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