Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is Israel's unified military, established in 1948 from pre-state paramilitary organisations including the Haganah. It comprises ground, air, and naval branches under a single command structure, with the Chief of General Staff (Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir) reporting to the Defence Minister. Conscription applies to most Jewish and Druze citizens; the reserve system lets the standing force of roughly 170,000 expand to over 600,000 in wartime. The IDF is legally subordinate to civilian authority: the Defence Minister issues operational orders, the Prime Minister chairs the war cabinet, and the attorney-general provides legal advice on targeting decisions.

Since 28 February 2026 the IDF has been fighting on multiple simultaneous fronts. On the Iran track, it co-launched Operation Roaring Lion on the opening night, striking central Tehran and killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; subsequent operations expanded to economic targets including refineries, airports, and Natanz enrichment infrastructure. On the Lebanon track, the IDF established a 30-kilometre security zone south of the Litani River, deploying five armoured divisions with 1,072 personnel killed in Lebanon by mid-March. Two IDF soldiers were wounded by Hezbollah rockets on 13 April as the Lebanon front re-ignited.

A 10-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire brokered by Trump on 17 April took effect at 17:00 local. Netanyahu told his cabinet IDF troops would not withdraw from the security zone and the truce did not apply to Hezbollah operations; Trump extended the Ceasefire three weeks to 15-16 May on 23 April. The IDF continued striking Hezbollah targets throughout both Ceasefire periods, killing Radwan Force commander Ahmed Ali Balout and two additional senior Hezbollah commanders in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of Beirut on 7 May, the first IDF airstrike on the Lebanese capital since the Trump ceasefire.

By 1 June 2026, Israeli forces had captured Beaufort Castle, the fortress above the Litani, held for the first time since the 2000 withdrawal, and advanced approximately 10 km north of the Litani toward the Zaharani river, the deepest push into Lebanon in 25 years. On 5 June, the IDF announced it had killed Hezbollah's chief engineer in a strike the previous week and issued evacuation warnings for three south Lebanon villages.

Since the Islamabad MOU was signed on 18 June, the IDF has remained in the security zone despite MOU language requiring withdrawal. On 19 June it struck roughly 80 Hezbollah sites in South Lebanon and Beirut in the deadliest day on the Lebanon front since the MOU: 47 Lebanese civilians and four IDF soldiers killed. After a brief Ceasefire renewal that afternoon, fighting resumed; Netanyahu ordered forces to hold positions on 20 and 21 June with at least 20 dead on 20 June and 16 on 21 June. On 22 June, the IDF carried out a localised redeployment from Debbine toward Khiam in the Marjeyoun district, which it described as 'dynamic defence' rather than withdrawal. A Lebanese Army engineering unit and UNIFIL moved in to reopen roads behind the pullback, but the wider security zone (up to 10 km deep) was unchanged. IDF forces also captured a Hezbollah tunnel system at Majdal Zoun, and a fifth Washington round on a pilot-zone framework for Lebanese Armed Forces deployment ran from 22 to 24 June with no handover confirmed. Netanyahu said troops would stay 'as long as necessary'. Iran's nuclear sub-talks remain gated behind the unresolved Lebanon clause of the MOU, making the IDF's ground position directly relevant to the wider diplomatic track.

On 27 June 2026, the US, Israel, and Lebanon signed a trilateral framework tying Israeli security zone withdrawal to Hezbollah's full disarmament. Hezbollah's Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected it within hours as "null", "humiliating", and a "surrender of sovereignty". The IDF struck Nabatieh, Deir Siryan, and Taybeh in south Lebanon the same day. On 28 June, Captain David Hazutt of the Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion was killed on the Lebanon front.