Zionist army short of 1,000s of soldiers as threat of new war on Lebanon looms: Report

According to the Ynet news website, Brigadier General Shai Tayeb, who leads the Zionist regime’s military’s Planning and Personnel Administration Division, informed the Knesset (parliament) Subcommittee on Israeli army personnel that the regime must broaden the pool of individuals eligible for service.

He also highlighted that troop numbers are projected to experience a significant decrease by January 2027.

“We need to prepare in the next five years for 36 months of service and 70 days of reserve duty per year,” Tayeb said.

The announcement follows Tel Aviv’s call on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to conduct house-to-house raids in southern Lebanon to seize Hezbollah’s weapons – a demand that the Arab nation’s army has rejected emphatically.

Reuters news agency on Monday quoted unnamed Lebanese security sources as saying that Zionist regime has been pressuring Lebanon’s army to adopt a firmer approach in dismantling Hezbollah, including conducting searches of private residences in the south for weapons.

It reported that the Lebanese army turned down the request, cautioning that such actions might spark civil unrest and be perceived by residents as “subservience to Israel.”

 “They’re demanding that we do house-to-house searches, and we won’t do that,” Reuters quoted a Lebanese official as saying.

The demand was conveyed via the ceasefire mechanism coordinated among Washington, Tel Aviv, Beirut, Paris, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Following the Lebanese military’s refusal, Israeli air raids and cross-border attacks escalated significantly.

Lebanese security and official sources also told Reuters that a Hezbollah commander was martyred on Monday in an Israeli airstrike on the Sarafand-Baysarieh Highway in southern Lebanon.

An unnamed Lebanese army intelligence source identified the victim as Samir Ali Faqih.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported that Faqih was martyred in a Zionist regime’s drone strike targeting his car.

According to the Lebanese outlets, Israeli warplanes carried out around 20 air raids on Hezbollah positions in eastern and southern Lebanon on Monday, launching some 40 air-to-ground missiles.

On Monday, Mahmoud Qomati, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Political Council, reaffirmed the group’s stance against disarmament.

He emphasized that their weapons are essential for safeguarding Lebanon’s existence and strength, acting as a deterrent against potential Israeli aggression.