Israel has multiple options for ground operations as Hezbollah tries to re-organize and recuperate from its losses, but no operation will firmly and quickly secure southern Lebanon, and could pull Israel into a longer and more extended campaign that does not fully secure its goals and causes more damage to Lebanon. On Sept. 30, signs mounted that Israel was preparing for an invasion of Lebanon, with tanks sighted on the northern Israeli border and U.S. officials warning that an operation could be imminent. Prior to that, over the weekend of Sep. 28-29, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued their large-scale aerial strikes across Bekaa, Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Syria-Lebanon border following the IDF's Sept. 27 assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and senior Hezbollah and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) commanders. These operations aimed to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities, dismantle its command structure and block arms shipments from Syria by...
