Israel claims control of Lebanon’s key Ali al-Taher ridge: What that means

Israeli Defence Ministry asserts operational control over strategic highland; Hezbollah yet to comment.

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on the strategically important Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon [File: AFP]

Israel this week has claimed to have established operational control over the strategically vital Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, after an extended operation against positions of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

In a statement on Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed Israeli forces had driven Hezbollah fighters out of what he said was a network of tunnels ⁠⁠under the contested highland, 15km (10 miles) from the border.

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“Prime Minister Netanyahu and I are leading a clear and uncompromising policy, reinforced every day by the [Israeli military]: Israel will not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed throughout Lebanon and the threats to the residents of the Galilee are removed,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli media. “The capture of Ali Taher is an important step towards achieving this goal.”

Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to formally comment on the Israeli claims. However, hours before Katz’s comments, Reuters news agency reported that Iran had warned the United States last month that it would respond forcefully if Israeli attacks on the ridge, which rises 600 metres above sea level (1,970 feet), continued.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting, with varying levels of intensity, since October 2023. Israel has twice escalated the conflict – first in September 2024 and then in March this year, following the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Israel has been working to embed its occupation of southern Lebanon since the latest escalation, when it announced the creation of a “security” or “buffer” zone, which rights groups say has involved the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure – potentially a war crime – and is responsible for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese.

Israeli strikes and ground operations around the Ali al-Taher ridge continued despite a ceasefire agreed in June, after Israel gained control of nearby Beaufort Castle and part of the higher ground overlooking much of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

According to Mohanad Hage Ali, of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, Israel’s success has partly been down to technological superiority but also due to the complete absence of “inhibition” in their assaults upon Lebanese towns and villages, which have often accrued daily casualty rates of dozens of people.

“There aren’t any consequences to their actions,” he said. “They can demolish entire villages and wipe out whole societies in a way they could never do before. It’s ethnic cleansing.”

Politics of resistance

Pitched as a measure to protect citizens of northern Israel, who Israeli analysts such as Ori Goldberg described as being owed an electoral debt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of crucial elections later this year, the occupation is also a means of exerting additional pressure on the government in Beirut.

“The Israeli ‘operational control’ over the ridge is no doubt a tactical, even strategic, gain, enabling Israel a better control over southern Lebanon,” said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow at King’s College London. “From an Israeli perspective, it is a way to put pressure on the Lebanese government: Tackle Hezbollah head-on, or we stay here.”

Nicholas Blanford, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and an authority on the group, said Hezbollah’s lack of comment on the Israeli claims raised a number of questions.

“It could be that a deal’s been done. It could be that Israel is exaggerating what it means by ‘operational control’,” he said, noting that neither the extent of Israel’s military control over the ridge, nor the infrastructure contained within it, is known.

Defence Minister Israel Katz, who faces re-election later this year, has threatened to “return Iran to the Stone Age” if it responds to Israel’s latest attacks in southern Lebanon. [File: Menahem Kahana/AFP]

“What we do know is that Hezbollah appears ready to get back into the resistance business, but no longer seems to be making the decisions,” he said. “Those are coming from Iran, who appear to want to keep things quiet for now.”

Analysts also suggested that a lack of a response from Tehran may frustrate Netanyahu, who has invested much of his electoral stock in finishing the war with Iran, an opponent he has characterised as posing an existential threat to the country since at least the early 1990s.

Katz has described an attack against Israel as freeing its military “from all constraints”, and that in such a scenario, the military would “strike all infrastructure – including energy infrastructure – and return Iran to the Stone Age and darkness”, all of which would almost certainly constitute war crimes.

However, how far Israel – diplomatically, economically and militarily dependent upon the US – can proceed beyond rhetoric is open to question.

With Netanyahu predicted to struggle in October’s elections, what happens in southern Lebanon may prove crucial.

“Will Iran come to Hezbollah’s aid?” Bregman asked. “One person for sure – a certain Benjamin Netanyahu prays that they do – as it could even postpone the forthcoming elections in Israel in which, if judged by current polls, he will be defeated.”

以色列国防部宣称对战略高地拥有作战控制权；真主党尚未对此发表评论。

以色列空袭黎巴嫩南部具有重要战略意义的阿里·塔赫尔山脊后，浓烟升起。[图片：法新社]

本周，以色列声称在对黎巴嫩武装组织真主党的阵地进行长时间的军事行动后，已经对黎巴嫩南部具有重要战略意义的阿里·塔赫尔山脊建立了作战控制权。

以色列国防部长以色列·卡茨周五发表声明称，以色列军队已将真主党武装分子赶出了他所说的位于争议高地下方、距离边境 15 公里（10 英里）的隧道网络。

以色列在美国斡旋下与黎巴嫩达成协议，释放五名被拘留者至黎巴嫩（共四份名单，此为第1份）。

10月7日袭击事件影响以色列大选并加剧政治指责（共4条记录，此为第2条）

以色列空袭黎巴嫩南部，造成三人死亡（共四起），局势持续升级（第三起）

以色列无人机向黎巴嫩南部曼苏里投掷炸弹（共4起）

据以色列媒体报道，他表示：“内塔尼亚胡总理和我奉行明确且毫不妥协的政策，以色列军方每天都在重申这一政策：在黎巴嫩全境解除真主党武装、加利利居民面临的威胁消除之前，以色列不会从黎巴嫩安全区撤军。抓获阿里·塔赫尔是朝着实现这一目标迈出的重要一步。”

伊朗支持的真主党尚未就以色列的说法发表正式评论。然而，就在卡茨发表评论的几个小时前，路透社报道称，伊朗上个月曾警告美国，如果以色列继续袭击这座海拔600米（1970英尺）的山脊，伊朗将予以强力回应。

自 2023 年 10 月以来，以色列和真主党一直在进行不同程度的冲突。以色列曾两次升级冲突——第一次是在 2024 年 9 月，第二次是在今年 3 月，即美国和以色列对伊朗发动战争之后。

自最近一次局势升级以来，以色列一直在努力巩固其对黎巴嫩南部的占领。当时，以色列宣布设立“安全区”或“缓冲区”，人权组织称此举涉及蓄意破坏民用基础设施——这可能构成战争罪——并导致数十万黎巴嫩人流离失所。

尽管以色列在 6 月份达成了停火协议，但在以色列控制了附近的博福特城堡和俯瞰黎巴嫩南部和以色列北部大部分地区的高地的一部分之后，以色列在阿里·塔赫尔山脊周围的空袭和地面行动仍在继续。

卡内基中东中心的莫哈纳德·哈吉·阿里表示，以色列的成功部分归功于其技术优势，但也归功于其对黎巴嫩城镇和村庄的袭击完全没有“顾忌”，这些袭击经常造成每天数十人伤亡。

“他们的行为没有任何后果，”他说。“他们可以摧毁整个村庄，消灭整个社会，这是他们以前从未做到过的。这是种族清洗。”

抵抗政治

以色列政府声称此举是为了保护以色列北部公民，以色列分析人士奥里·戈德堡 (Ori Goldberg) 等人士认为，在今年晚些时候的关键选举之前，总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡欠了他们一笔选举债。但占领行动也是为了向贝鲁特政府施加额外的压力。

“以色列对山脊的‘作战控制’无疑是一项战术乃至战略上的胜利，使以色列能够更好地控制黎巴嫩南部，”以色列安全分析师、伦敦国王学院高级讲师阿伦·布雷格曼表示。“从以色列的角度来看，这是一种向黎巴嫩政府施压的方式：要么正面打击真主党，要么我们就继续留在这里。”

大西洋理事会非常驻高级研究员、真主党问题专家尼古拉斯·布兰福德表示，真主党对以色列的指控保持沉默，这引发了一系列疑问。

“有可能已经达成协议。也可能是以色列夸大了‘作战控制’的含义，”他说道，并指出以色列对该山脊的军事控制程度以及山脊内的基础设施情况都不得而知。

面临今年晚些时候连任选举的国防部长以色列·卡茨威胁称，如果伊朗对以色列在黎巴嫩南部发动的最新袭击做出回应，以色列将“把伊朗带回石器时代”。[图片：Menahem Kahana/法新社]

他说：“我们目前知道的是，真主党似乎准备重返抵抗运动，但似乎不再掌握决策权。决策权掌握在伊朗手中，而伊朗似乎希望暂时保持低调。”

分析人士还指出，德黑兰方面缺乏回应可能会让内塔尼亚胡感到沮丧，他已将大部分选举筹码投入到结束与伊朗的战争中，自至少 20 世纪 90 年代初以来，他一直将伊朗视为对伊朗构成生存威胁的对手。

卡茨将对以色列的袭击描述为使其军队“摆脱一切约束”，在这种情况下，军队将“打击所有基础设施——包括能源基础设施——并将伊朗带回石器时代和黑暗”，所有这些几乎肯定构成战争罪行。

然而，在外交、经济和军事上都依赖美国的以色列，究竟能在多大程度上超越空谈，还有待商榷。

由于预计内塔尼亚胡在10月份的选举中将面临困境，黎巴嫩南部局势的发展可能至关重要。

“伊朗会援助真主党吗？”布雷格曼问道。“有一个人肯定——本杰明·内塔尼亚胡——他祈祷伊朗这样做，因为这甚至可以推迟即将举行的以色列大选，而根据目前的民调来看，他将在大选中落败。”