The Operations Room of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah released a comprehensive statement detailing the recent field developments in Operation People of Might, providing details regarding the multifaceted Haifa operation and the extensive ambush the resistance fighters devised against soldiers of the Golani Brigade. 

In its statement, the Islamic Resistance stressed its commitment to continue confronting the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, confirming the mounting losses its fighters are inflicting among enemy ranks and assets, from equipment to vehicles and soldiers to commanders, in the various combat axes across the frontlines and positions reaching deep occupied territories. 

The Haifa Operation

On November 16, Hezbollah targeted five military bases across occupied Haifa and the Karmiel area in a single operation: The Stella Maris base, Haifa naval base, Haifa technical base, the Nesher base, and the Tirat Carmel base. 

The strategic missile operation came as part of the Operations Room's vow to intensify and escalate its "Khaybar" series of operations and to disprove Israeli claims about destroying the Resistance's rocket capabilities.

Through this operation, the Resistance ascertains that it still possesses the necessary capabilities to simultaneously target multiple enemy military bases, with significant barrages of advanced rockets, which poured down on Haifa and successfully hit their targets. 

Detailing the success of the operation, the statement revealed that the allocated targets were hit across all the announced military bases, forcing over 300,000 settlers into shelters. The statement highlighted that Israeli settlers are bearing the consequences of the Israeli army's military bases being stationed within settlements, occupied towns, and near commercial and economic hubs.

The Islamic Resistance has made extensive considerations, fully prepared, and completely ensured its ability to carry out similar operations in Haifa and beyond, for an extended period that the enemy cannot anticipate.

'Phase two' of the ground operation in South Lebanon

Regarding the Israeli enemy's ground operation, the statement highlighted that following a 40% reduction in hostile aerial and ground operations along the border region, given the occupation forces' inability to establish control on Lebanese lands, the enemy hastily announced the second phase of its ground invasion in Southern Lebanon.

The Operations Room confirmed that the concentrated and strategic defensive operations the Resistance carried out during the first phase of the Israeli ground invasion forced the enemy's forces to withdraw behind the border in certain areas, preventing them from establishing control over border towns.

The Israeli Air Force continues its daily attacks on border villages it had falsely claimed to acquire, conducting dozens of airstrikes from warplanes and drones, as well as artillery shelling and machine-gun sweeps from border positions across several villages.

The ongoing attacks highlight the Israeli military's inability to secure a foothold in Lebanese territory, the statement said. It added that failed advances toward areas south of al-Khiam—where prior infiltration attempts were met with swift retreats under Resistance strikes and confrontations—underscore the failure of the operation's first phase.

Since the beginning of the ground operation and up until the issuance of this statement, the heroic fighters have carried out more than 350 operations on Lebanese soil and over 600 firepower operations, targeting enemy military units within occupied Palestinian territories.

The statement asserted that these have inflicted heavy losses on the occupation forces, warning the Israeli army's commanders and soldiers that what Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade suffered on the outskirts of the Ainata-Maroun al-Ras-Aitaroun triangle is only the beginning. The battlefield will prove this in the coming days and nights. 

"As our sacred Martyr [Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah] once said: 'You will enter vertically and leave horizontally.'"

Ground Confrontations

Western sector

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Israeli forces attempted to advance towards the town of Chamaa and seize control as part of efforts to pressure second-line towns along the front to reduce Resistance rocket fire targeting Nahariya and the Haifa region in occupied Palestinian territories. 

Enemy forces infiltrated through the al-Labbouneh forests, passing through Alma al-Shaab and Tayr Harfa, heading towards Chamaa. The advancing forces, however, fell victim to a series of pre-planned ambushes set by Resistance fighters on the outskirts of the town and within its interior.  

As an armored company-sized unit advanced towards the area around the town’s mosque and municipal building, east of the UNIFIL site, fighters targeted it with guided missiles, destroying two Merkava tanks and a bulldozer accompanying the unit.  

Resistance fighters also targeted an infantry unit near the Prophet Shamoun al-Safa shrine in the town center with a guided missile, resulting in multiple casualties.  

Fighters engaged Israeli forces at close ranges near the shrine, the municipal building, the mosque, and the outskirts of the town more than five times, using machine guns, grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades, inflicting significant casualties.  

As injuries mounted, Israeli medical evacuation forces mobilized, deploying two helicopters to rescue and evacuate the wounded. They used illumination flares to identify their location near the town’s school.  

On the western outskirts of the town of al-Jibbayn, fighters targeted a Merkava tank with a guided missile, killing and injuring its crew. They also shelled the operation zone with 120mm and 81mm mortar rounds.  

The resistance rocket units continue to target Israeli military troop movements and positions along this axis with dozens of rocket barrages and artillery shells.  

Central sector: Ainata-Maroun al-Ras-Aytaroun triangle

In response to the Israeli occupation's claims about the ambush its forces encountered near the Ainata-Maroun al-Ras-Aytaroun triangle and to highlight the heroism of the Resistance fighters on the frontlines, the Islamic Resistance Operations Room issued the following statement:

Resistance fighters monitored a force from the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade, part of the 36th Division, advancing at dawn on Wednesday, November 13, from the border area between the southern towns of Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras towards the southeastern outskirts of Bint Jbeil. The force aimed to conduct reconnaissance missions in the Ainata-Maroun al-Ras-Aytaroun triangle.  

Despite the heavy aerial bombardment carried out by the Israeli air force in the area, the force fell into a carefully planned ambush by the Islamic Resistance fighters.  

The enemy force stepped foot into the ambush zone at 9:50 am on Wednesday, where a cadre of fighters was stationed in a house damaged by the Israeli aggression, as well as in its surrounding area. As the Israeli force approached the kill zone, the fighters opened fire from multiple directions using machine guns, forcing the force to spread out in the area.  

Some members of the Israeli force entered a house in the area to seek shelter and hide from the fighters’ fire, while the rest of the soldiers were deployed around it.  

Once the force took position inside the house, the Resistance fighters, rallying to the cry "Labbayk ya Nasrallah" [At your service, O' Nasrallah], launched several anti-personnel and anti-armor RPG rounds. The attack destroyed parts of the building, causing it to collapse over the soldiers inside.

As the house collapsed and panic gripped the remaining Israeli force in the area, the Resistance fighters opened fire on them with machine guns. The confrontations lasted over three hours, during which Israeli casualties were evacuated under the cover of intense smoke and heavy fire.

The Israeli army acknowledged the death of an officer and five soldiers from the 51st Battalion, in addition to four injuries.  

Since then, no ground activity by enemy forces has been observed in the area up to the time of this statement's release.

The Operations Room recalled that a force from the same battalion was captured in an ambush on the eastern outskirts of Bint Jbeil during the July 2006 aggression, which resulted in the death of eight soldiers and injuries to over 25 others.  

The 2006 battle was considered one of the most significant in the history of the Golani Brigade (which suffered its largest losses since its inception in southern Lebanon during that engagement) and one of the most difficult battles of the occupation's so-called "Second Lebanon War," according to the statement.

Eastern sector

The Israeli enemy intensified its aggression on the village of al-Khiam and its surroundings over the recent days, carrying out over 60 airstrikes and drone attacks and more than 130 artillery shells as part of preparations to advance towards the city again. This follows an earlier attempt over ten days ago, which failed due to the heavy blows inflicted by Resistance fighters.

Resistance fighters engaged with the advancing forces as soon as they reached the Wata al-Khiam area south of the city, using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. They also targeted two Merkava tanks with guided missiles, setting them ablaze and killing and injuring their crews.  

Following a series of concentrated missile operations and direct confrontations with the advancing forces from the eastern and southern directions of al-Khiam, and due to the heavy losses inflicted on the enemy army, the forces partially withdrew for the second time from the points they had advanced to under the Resistance fighters' fire-strikes.  

Israeli losses in numbers

Since November 12, 2024

The statement also provided data on the total losses sustained by the Israeli military since the launch of the second phase of its ground invasion in southern Lebanon on November 12, 2024, as documented by Islamic Resistance fighters.

• 18 soldiers killed
• 32 wounded, some critically
• Five Merkava tanks destroyed
• One military bulldozer destroyed

Since October 1, 2024

• Over 110 killed, including officers and soldiers
• Over 1,050 wounded, including officers and soldiers
• 48 Mekrava tanks destroyed
• Nine military bulldozers destroyed 
• Two Humvee vehicles
• Two armored vehicles
• Two armored personnel carriers

These figures do not include the enemy’s losses at military bases, posts, barracks, settlements, or occupied cities.