Conversations with currently serving officers in Lebanon and their families, as reported by the newspaper Haaretz, reveal a grim and concerning picture. They say that “their primary mission is to bring their soldiers home safely, under the constant threat of explosive drones.”

The officers find it difficult to determine the strategy adopted by the senior leadership, and their main activity consists of the massive destruction of homes in villages in southern Lebanon, on the grounds that they served as the operational infrastructure for “Hezbollah.”

Frustration over human losses, and the quasi-permanent ban imposed by US President Donald Trump on strikes in Beirut and the Bekaa, leads to venting anger on villages north of the Litani River, with little to no strategic outcome, according to the newspaper.

Litani River in southern Lebanon (Annahar Archive).

The army hopes that political negotiations, held under the auspices of the American administration in Washington between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, will lead to a breakthrough.

But at present, the prospects do not seem promising. What is striking is the complete absence of any strategic discussion: Netanyahu prefers not to conduct it, and the General Staff is constantly pursued by the extremist wing in the government, fearing being portrayed as a puppet, while all other elements that were supposed to contribute to or supervise the discussion (the Cabinet, the Defense Minister and the political wing in his office, the National Security Council, and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee) remain neutral and indifferent, with some senior positions vacant for long periods, according to the report.

"The appalling ease with which human lives are lost"

In an incident that occurred in Lebanon last weekend, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade, Captain Ma'oz Israel Rikanti from the Itamar settlement, was killed as a result of a drone explosion.

According to Yaniv Kubovich in the Haaretz newspaper, this happened when Rikanti was securing an operational patrol led by Division 36 Commander Brigadier Yiftah Norkin near the Litani River. The patrol was conducted in broad daylight, despite the Israeli army having significantly restricted movements in this area, mainly limiting them to nighttime due to the threat of drones. Colonel (Res.) Hanoch Daube, an armored officer and friend of Norkin and Biderman, told Haaretz he was not surprised by the report’s publication.

Daube described in his testimony “the appalling ease with which human lives are lost throughout the war, and the heavy price paid by young fighters on the front due to the errors, failures, and decisions of the senior leadership.”

He adds, “If the Israeli army forces in Lebanon have to hide during the day for fear of Hezbollah drones, and if many operations are postponed to night to reduce risks, then the truth must be told: there is no operational control over the region here.”

“There is presence, there is infrastructure destruction, and there is intensive tactical activity, but the enemy, who according to statements has suffered a severe defeat, still dictates the pace of operations and battle conditions.”