Exclusive: A look at Hezbollah's plan to terrorize and invade northern Israel
Israel demolishes Iran-backed offensive to conquer Galilee
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EXCLUSIVE – The Iran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah laid the foundation to launch an Oct. 7-Hamas style invasion into Israel’s north, according to shocking new video footage and documents first viewed and obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Hezbollah has been planning their own 10/7," an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intelligence official told Fox News Digital, in a reference to the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, including more than 40 Americans, in southern Israel.
"The plan has been effectively eliminated. We dismantled the high-level command of Radwan," the IDF official said about Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MIDDLE EAST'S HEZBOLLAH AND HAMAS GROUPS?
A screen grab showing a member of Hezbollah's Radwan forces telling an Israeli intelligence officer of the terror group's plan to invade Israel's Galilee. The terrorist was taken prisoner during an Israeli raid in south Lebanon in October. (IDF Spokesman's Unit)
Fox News Digital secured a rare view into the inner workings of Hezbollah’s "Conquer the Galilee" plan – named after the region in northern Israel – via an IDF interrogation of a Hezbollah terrorist and a review of the Lebanese organization’s strategic warfare plans.
IDF infantry captured a Radwan terrorist in the south Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab in mid-October. The IDF videotaped the terrorist’s interrogation. In matter of fact military language, the operative outlines Hezbollah’s chilling plan to "Conquer the Galilee."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hezbollah’s war aim, according to the terror operative, is "Occupying the Galilee."
"They said they want to enter (Israel), they want to breakthrough. The Radwan forces is essentially on the frontline, to gather information and (build) invasion tunnels," said the man whose name could not be disclosed by the IDF for intelligence reasons.
When questioned about securing information, he said, "Gathering information about the settlements, positions, the quantity of weapons and tanks, using intelligence equipment. The entry into Israel was planned for the morning. They wanted to execute the operation, starting with a very strong attack – thousands of rockets, Burkan missiles, everything… War plans, essentially."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hezbollah Radwan terrorists training in Southern Lebanon close to the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
He continued about Radwan’s approach to Israeli civilians. "Those they encounter, we’ll fight. Face to face, us and them, and those who want to surrender can do just that, just like I did, then I came here. Same thing. We take those who surrender as prisoners, take them and bring them (into Lebanon)."
For the Israeli civilians who refuse to surrender, the Radwan terrorist uttered one word about their fate: "Kill."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Radwan force was named after the late Hezbollah leader, Imad Mughniyah, who was assassinated in a joint CIA-Mossad operation in 2008. Mughniyah carried out acts of terrorism under the nom de guerre of Radwan, which means he with whom Allah is content.
After high-intensity warfare between Hezbollah and Israel erupted in September, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari described Hezbollah’s plan to "Conquer the Galilee" in a video presentation on Oct. 1.
The Galilee – a central region for Old and New Testament history – was in the crosshairs of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's former general-secretary, for over a decade.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Panoramic landscape from Mount Meron in the upper Galilee, with the Sea of Galilee. Northern Israel. (iStock)
"It is a plan for which we train, and prepare… We have prepared this plan. It is complete. Yes, part of our plan for the next war is to enter the Galilee," said Nasrallah, according to a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translation of his statement from the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar TV in 2019.
Israel eliminated Nasrallah, who had the blood of American soldiers on his hands, in a surgical military strike in September.
"Nasrallah’s 2011 plan to conquer the Galilee was massive," said the IDF intelligence official about the region famous among Christian pilgrims. The area is described in the New Testament, Matthew 4:23: "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mass is celebrated along Tiberias Lake, also known as the Sea of Galilee, during a pilgrimage to the area. (Antoine Gyori/AGP/Corbis via Getty Images)
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The IDF uncovered in Kfar Blida, Lebanon (a mere 4 km from Kibbutz Yiftach in Israel), a document packed with the logistical thinking and planning behind Nasrallah’s scorched earth policy for towns and cities in the Galilee.
The Hezbollah planning exercise outlines "raids on Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya and Tiberias," according to the document.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Company 1143 will provide air defense to secure the operational area and prevent enemy aircraft from disrupting the maneuvering forces, with the goal of capturing Kiryat Shmona," wrote, Mihrab, the Hezbollah operative and author of the document.
A section of the war plan notes that "…the entire battalion will prepare to continue the offensive toward the city of Nahariya."
The content of the report is composed as an exercise for Hezbollah operatives, with test questions. The planned seizures of various locations are identified with "Hill" and a number. The targeted hills are apparently Israeli locations. It is unclear when the document was written. One exercise attack is listed as Jan. 1, 2018.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For the IDF, the highly detailed war planning outlined in the document is part and parcel of Nasrallah’s long-standing plan to invade the Galilee.
Tasks required for the Hezbollah terrorists are: noted as "Detail the order of forces; Develop the maneuver plan; Develop the fire plan; Write the task of the maneuver units according to what was outlined in the decision."
In September, Fox News Digital reported Israel eliminated Ibrahim Aqil, the head of operations and the commander of its Radwan Forces who oversaw Hezbollah’s Conquer the Galilee plan.
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The IDF intelligence official stressed to Fox News Digital that "It is a constant motif of Hezbollah to conquer the Galilee." He added about Hezbollah, "We destroyed their infrastructure and set them back a few decades. This plan [Conquer the Galilee] can never be allowed to become practical again."
The U.S. brokered a fragile cease-fire last week between Israel and Hezbollah. IDF soldiers alleged that the controversial U.N. peacekeeper force (UNIFIL) is enabling Hezbollah to breach the agreement.