36th Division doubles Lebanon force

Israel's 36th Armoured Division deployed to southern Lebanon on 17 March, joining the 91st Galilee Division that crossed the border the previous week . The 7th Armoured Brigade — the IDF's most decorated armoured unit, which held the northern Golan against a Syrian armoured onslaught during the 1973 Yom Kippur War — is now conducting raids in southern Lebanon, with the IDF claiming dozens of Hezbollah fighters killed and weapons depots dismantled ¹. Two armoured divisions operating simultaneously in Lebanon is the first multi-division Israeli ground operation there since the 2006 war.

New evacuation orders for Tyre, Nabatieh, and dozens of surrounding villages triggered panic across the south ². Residents reported heavy traffic and gunfire on evacuation routes. Tyre is Lebanon's fourth-largest city; Nabatieh is the administrative capital of the south. The IDF described the 91st Division's crossing as a 'forward defence' operation ; the addition of a second division and the evacuation of major population centres has expanded the operation well beyond that framing. Earlier orders already extended past the Litani River to south of the Zahrani — nine miles from Sidon .

Haaretz assessed that the IDF's ground plans 'won't topple Hezbollah' — the operation will push launch sites northward without stopping rocket barrages ³. Israel's 2006 ground offensive committed multiple divisions over 34 days and failed to stop Katyusha fire, which continued until the UN-brokered ceasefire on 14 August. The towns now under IDF operation — Tyre, Nabatieh, Khiam, Kfar Kila — are the same towns Israel occupied from 1982 to 2000, an 18-year presence that hardened Lebanese resistance and gave birth to Hezbollah as an armed movement. Khiam housed Israel's most notorious detention facility during that occupation; IDF troops fought Hezbollah in the town last week .

A Northern Command officer confirmed the operation could last 'until Shavuot' in late May — three months from the war's start and well beyond the Passover planning horizon IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin disclosed earlier . No previous Israeli military operation has required two armoured divisions in Lebanon and a sustained air campaign against Iran simultaneously. The IDF denied reports it is running low on missile interceptors , but sustaining two fronts at this intensity through May will test every element of Israel's military supply chain — from precision munitions to the Arrow and David's Sling interceptors that cost $2–3 million each .