{"id":389745,"date":"2026-04-13T12:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389745\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:01:23","slug":"idf-says-close-to-capturing-hezbollahs-historic-bint-jbeil-stronghold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389745\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF says close to capturing Hezbollah’s historic Bint Jbeil stronghold"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Israeli military has nearly completed the capture of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 members of the terror group in the area in the process, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.<\/p>\n

Bint Jbeil is considered a symbol of Hezbollah power and the IDF has been encircling the town in recent weeks as it seeks to extend its control of southern Lebanon after the Iran-backed group broke the ceasefire that had been in place since November 2024 to support Tehran.<\/p>\n

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF battled the terror group in the town but failed to capture it fully. Earlier, in May 2000, after the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon following an 18-year occupation, then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a victory speech in Bint Jbeil, where he infamously described Israel as \u201cweaker than a spider web.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operation in Bint Jbeil was being led by the 98th Division with its Paratroopers and Commando brigades, along with the Givati Infantry Brigade.<\/p>\n

The IDF said it initially isolated and encircled the town to prevent Hezbollah from bringing in reinforcements or escaping.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

At least 150 Hezbollah operatives, including members of the terror group\u2019s elite Radwan Force, were estimated by the IDF to have been in the Bint Jbeil area ahead of the operation.<\/p>\n

The 98th Division also carried out several commando operations as it worked to secure the town, a military official said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSoldiers of the Givati Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued by the military on April 12, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past week, the forces completed the encirclement and launched an offensive in the town of Bint Jbeil,\u201d the IDF said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe troops eliminated more than 100 terrorists from the Hezbollah terror organization in close-quarters combat and from the air, destroyed dozens of terrorist infrastructures, and located hundreds of weapons in the area,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

During the operation, the military captured Bint Jbeil\u2019s stadium, where Nasrallah delivered the infamous victory speech following the IDF\u2019s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tBint Jbeil stadium in southern Lebanon is seen in a drone image released by the IDF on April 13, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

\u201cBint Jbeil 2000: There was someone here who spoke and boasted about webs and spiders. Today, that man no longer exists, the stadium is gone, and his words are worth nothing,\u201d said 98th Division commander Brig. Gen. Guy Levy in a missive to troops on Monday<\/p>\n

\u201cBint Jbeil 2026: Our forces control the area, destroying terror infrastructure and dozens of terrorists,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Since the IDF began its offensive in Bint Jbeil, the military had not detected any rocket attacks from the town on Israel. IDF troops, however, have come under fire by Hezbollah from Bint Jbeil, though the military official said the rate of attacks was slowing.<\/p>\n

Several IDF soldiers have been wounded<\/a> during the offensive in Bint Jbeil, according to the military. On Sunday, two paratroopers were moderately injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack in the area.<\/p>\n

The official said he estimated that it would likely take a few more days to complete the operations in Bint Jbeil, during which the division aims to kill the remaining few dozen operatives there and locate the terror group\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSmoke rises following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit)<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Lebanon\u2019s official news agency reported \u201cfierce clashes\u201d between the Israeli military and Hezbollah in Bint Jbeil, and said that IDF troops were \u201cstill trying to infiltrate and take control of the remaining neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said on Sunday that it had launched rockets at Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of the town. Last week, the terror group said it had used light arms and RPG fire against Israeli soldiers who were advancing in the town.<\/p>\n

During the offensive in Bint Jbeil, the IDF announced on Sunday that it had\u00a0raided a hospital<\/a> in the town where armed Hezbollah operatives had been holed up, killing some 20 gunmen and seizing weapons in the process.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tWeapons the military says were captured by troops at Bint Jbeil Governmental Hospital in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published on April 12, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed over 1,800 people since hostilities escalated on March 2, in a toll that does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. According to IDF tallies released Friday, more than 1,400 Hezbollah operatives have been killed over the same period.<\/p>\n

Twelve IDF soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon amid the renewed fighting against Hezbollah, two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.<\/p>\n

The operation to capture Bint Jbeil comes with the first in-person meeting in the expected negotiations between Israel and Lebanon<\/a> to take place on Tuesday in Washington.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFile. Hezbollah supporters listen to the broadcast speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, during a rally commemorating \u201cLiberation Day,\u201d which marks the withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon in 2000, in the southern border town of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, Sunday, May 25, 2014. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)<\/p>\n

The talks, which will be hosted at the US State Department, come amid reports of alarm from the White House over the scale of Israel\u2019s massive\u00a0wave of strikes\u00a0in Lebanon following the ceasefire announcement between the US and Iran on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Iran is demanding that Lebanon be part of the ceasefire, but Israel insists it is not.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Israeli military has nearly completed the capture of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-389745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}