Israel is expecting a response on the northern front to the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Sayyed Reza Mousavi in Syria, Israeli media reported on Monday evening, citing defense establishment officials.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Mouasvi, a senior IRGC commander responsible for the military cooperation between Iran and its proxies in the region, was killed in an airstrike in the Damascus countryside.
According to Israeli security assessments, Iran had ramped up its transfer of weaponry to Shi’ite militias operating in Syria since the IDF launched its war on Hamas in Gaza.
Gallant: Israeli fighter jets flying openly over Lebanon
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who visited the IDF’s Northern Command on Monday, said that Hezbollah was being pushed very far away from the border with Israel and that the IDF “will strengthen all of these efforts.”
Gallant described how the IDF has killed over 150 terrorists in Lebanon, although Hezbollah only acknowledged around 125 of them as being directly connected to it, and not some other dozens connected to Palestinian terror groups.
The defense minister said that the IDF has also struck a significant amount of Hezbollah’s infrastructure near the border, forcing it backward as an operational matter, lest it otherwise be disconnected from weapons and supply lines.
In addition, he said that IDF aerial power has greater operational freedom within Lebanon than ever before.
He promised northern residents that the IDF would restore security either by a diplomatic deal or by a larger military operation, but still refrained from giving a timeline for deciding on the fateful issue.
Earlier Monday, Hezbollah fired rockets on Israel’s northern front, with the IDF responding with tank fire.
Over Sunday, the IDF engaged in heavier than usual attacks on Hezbollah and both sides have escalated attacks on each other in recent weeks, with Israel causing more damage to Hezbollah, given that around 80,000 northern residents evacuated the area months ago.
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