The Economist: Israel is planning a ground attack on Lebanon

Israel is planning a ground attack on Lebanon, which will include the creation of a buffer zone.

The Economist writes about this with reference to sources.

After blowing up the pagers and walkie-talkies of Hezbollah militants, Israel began to carry out deeper airstrikes in Lebanon than before. Hezbollah responded in kind on September 22. But, despite the escalation, it is not yet a full-scale war, writes The Economist.

Neither side even came close to using all their firepower. On the part of Hezbollah, this would mean significantly larger attacks, including long-range missiles, on key civilian and military targets in the central part of Israel, as well as numerous ground incursions into Israeli territory.

For Israel, this would mean a much broader bombing campaign against Hezbollahʼs missile network, including launching sites in civilian areas and, as a last resort, destroying civilian infrastructure in hopes of turning the Lebanese population against the organization (many Lebanese already resent the groupʼs war with Israel).. It is also about a possible ground operation.

"Plans for a ground invasion are ready. But we are still a long way from having sufficient forces here to carry them out," said one reserve officer involved in the preparation of the plan.

What preceded

On September 17, hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded in Lebanon. Because of this, 12 people died, almost 3 thousand were injured. Reuters, citing sources, writes that Israelʼs foreign intelligence service Mossad planted explosives in 5 000 pagers imported by the Lebanese Hezbollah group a few months before the explosions. ABC News notes that Israel has been preparing for the operation for at least 15 years. The Israeli president has officially denied the countryʼs involvement in blowing up pagers in Lebanon.

On September 18, a repeated series of explosions thundered in Lebanon. Walkie-talkies used by members of the Lebanese Hezbollah group and car radios were detonated. 14 people died, another 450 were injured. On the same day, Israel announced a "new phase" of the war — it would be fought mainly in the north of the country, which borders Lebanon. Since then, firefights between IDF and Hezbollah have intensified.

On September 20, IDF struck the high command of the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Beirut. The number of dead as of September 22 is 45.