Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has approved the expansion of ground operations in southern Lebanon, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported Sunday evening. This came after he approved new plans for the Northern Command aimed at expanding Israeli military maneuvers into new areas where Hezbollah activity is concentrated.

The new operation includes the deployment of thousands of regular and reserve soldiers, amid expectations that the expansion will lead to more intense confrontations with Hezbollah fighters in the targeted areas.

Channel 11 reported that high-level Israeli security sources indicated that expanding the operations aims to deepen "the achievements made by Israeli forces so far in Lebanon" and reach additional sites where Hezbollah is believed to be active.

Regarding the settlers, military officials told Israel's Channel 12 that returning them to the north is still out of the question at the moment. The officials justified this decision by saying that the security situation on the border remains unstable, with ongoing fears of possible attacks on northern towns.

Fires in the Galilee

On the ground, the Israeli army announced that a drone fell in an open area in the Western Galilee, confirming that firefighting crews are working to extinguish a fire at the site.

Israeli media reported that fires broke out after a drone fell and exploded near the town of Liman in the Galilee without activating the sirens.

This comes a day after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel.

Hezbollah broadcast footage of targeting Israeli army gatherings around the border towns of Shebaa and Kfar Shuba.

Hezbollah also broadcast images of its fighters targeting the Israeli occupation army's Haifa technical base with "Fadi" and "Nasr One" missiles.

Israeli state radio said several people were injured when an anti-tank missile was fired at the town of Metula in the Upper Galilee.

The Israeli army said it had detected 10 rockets fired from Lebanon towards the Golan Heights, some of which were intercepted and the rest fell in open areas.

He also said that he had monitored about 15 rockets launched towards the Upper and Western Galilee, which fell in open areas, confirming that other rockets were intercepted.

The Nahariya Municipality in northern Israel reported that rockets fired at the east and north of the area were intercepted, while the Israel Hayom newspaper confirmed that 3 people were injured when a rocket fell in an open area near Nahariya.

Dozens killed in Lebanon

Yesterday, Sunday, Israel launched deadly raids on Lebanon, leaving at least 41 dead, including 23 in a single raid on a town north of Beirut.

The ministry said in a statement that "the Israeli enemy's raid on Almat in the Jbeil district in Mount Lebanon led, in a new toll (...), to the martyrdom of 23 people, including 7 children."

She added that "body parts were removed from the scene and their identities are being verified, which suggests that the number of martyrs may rise."

The Israeli aggression on Lebanon resulted in a total of 3,136 deaths and at least 13,979 wounded, including a large number of children and women, in addition to about 1.4 million displaced persons.