Hezbollah reported direct ground clashes with Israeli forces in Khiam on Saturday night — light and medium weapons and RPGs, beginning at 19:20 GMT1. This is the deepest reported ground engagement since Israel announced plans to seize all territory south of the Litani River.
Khiam's detention facility, run by the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army from 1985 to 2000, became synonymous with the occupation itself. Former detainees — among them Soha Bechara, whose 1988 assassination attempt on SLA commander Antoine Lahad and subsequent ten-year imprisonment made her a national figure — documented systematic abuse including electric shocks and prolonged isolation. When Israel withdrew in May 2000, residents stormed the prison. Hezbollah later converted it into a museum. Israeli forces re-entered the town within the past week, part of the broader advance into the same towns last occupied during that period.
The style of engagement matters as much as the location. RPGs and small arms at close quarters are Hezbollah's doctrinal strength — the lesson of the 2006 war, when Israeli armoured columns took heavy casualties at Wadi Saluki and Bint Jbeil against fighters using exactly these weapons from prepared positions. Israel lost 121 soldiers in 33 days. The current campaign was designed for air operations: 1,100 strikes in Lebanon since 28 February. Infantry combat is a different war. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem declared on 14 March that 30,000 fighters, including members of the elite Radwan unit, are deployed in southern Lebanon.
Israel's announced seizure of everything south of the Litani requires holding ground, not just striking from the air. Holding ground against prepared infantry in the hills and wadis of southern Lebanon — terrain that favours defenders with local knowledge and pre-positioned weapons — demands sustained ground forces at a scale Israel has not yet deployed.
