{"id":8549,"date":"2026-03-03T16:45:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/?p=8549"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:45:51","slug":"israel-says-its-troops-operating-in-southern-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/2026\/03\/03\/israel-says-its-troops-operating-in-southern-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel says its troops &#8220;operating in southern Lebanon&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Israel says its troops &#8220;operating in southern Lebanon&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/english.news.cn\/20260303\/08b4dcfb763246ab9bd5942ff943e745\/VX7hnsDyRlplER9s.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoke rises from an explosion following Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israeli border, March 2, 2026. (JINI via Xinhua)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JERUSALEM\/BEIRUT, March 3 (Xinhua) &#8212; Israeli troops are &#8220;operating in southern Lebanon&#8221; on Tuesday as Israel continued its strikes against Lebanon&#8217;s Iran-aligned group Hezbollah, according to an Israeli military statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The military ground advance across the border and operations in southern Lebanon, along with troop deployments at several points near the border, are part of an &#8220;enhanced forward defense posture&#8221; to beef up security for local residents in the border area, according to the Israeli military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have authorized the military to &#8220;advance and secure additional strategic areas in Lebanon.&#8221; Katz added that the move is intended to allow the military to take over new positions within Lebanese territory for what he described as defending border towns in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An Israeli force consisting of a tank and three military bulldozers crossed at around 8:00 a.m. local time the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel, advancing approximately 1 kilometer into Lebanese territory, Lebanese security sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sources added that &#8220;the force moved toward the town of Tal al-Nahas, located between the village of Adaisseh and the town of Burj al-Muluk in the eastern sector of the southern border region, before carrying out bulldozing operations in the area.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They noted that &#8220;the Lebanese army is monitoring the movement of the Israeli force.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Katz noted Tuesday that the Israeli military will continue to &#8220;operate forcefully&#8221; against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, and warned the group will pay &#8220;a heavy price&#8221; for firing at Israel on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overnight between Sunday and Monday, the Iran-backed group fired missiles and drones toward Israel as the joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran went on. Hezbollah stated its strikes were in retaliation for the killing of Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that at least 52 people were killed in the Israeli attacks against Hezbollah. No casualties caused by the Hezbollah firing were reported in Israel.&nbsp;\u25a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/english.news.cn\/20260303\/08b4dcfb763246ab9bd5942ff943e745\/B92laGCAZ4op4kzq.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoke rises from an explosion following Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israeli border, March 2, 2026. (JINI via Xinhua)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/english.news.cn\/20260303\/08b4dcfb763246ab9bd5942ff943e745\/zecmA9QjGZNkeahR.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoke rises from an explosion following Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israeli border, March 2, 2026. (JINI via Xinhua)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel says its troops &#8220;operating in southern Lebanon&#8221; Smoke rises from an explosion following Israeli&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8550,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions\/8550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenyatopstories.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}