Hezbollah Enters the War Forcefully Despite the Wounds

Brown Land

Despite the wounds and losses sustained during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” war and the period following the ceasefire agreement between the Resistance and Israel signed in November 2024 (characterized by almost daily Israeli targeting of the party’s cadres and infrastructure in regular violations of the agreement, resulting in the martyrdom of many of its leaders), Hezbollah has decided to enter the current war ongoing in the region. Notably, the Lebanese Resistance did not limit itself to launching symbolic operations that “neither nourish nor avail against hunger,” but rather engaged in combat with a force that surprised friend and foe alike.

The party officially began military operations against Israel on the night between March 1st and 2nd of this month. In a statement, it announced the launching of rockets and drones at Israel, emphasizing that the operation came in defense of Lebanon and its people and in response to repeated Israeli aggressions. The operation targeted the “Mishmar HaCarmel” missile defense site belonging to the Israeli army, south of the city of Haifa. This became the first military operation carried out by the Lebanese party since the aforementioned ceasefire agreement took effect.

Approximately 24 hours after this prominent event, the region witnessed another significant development signed by the Lebanese Resistance as well. At dawn on March 3rd, the party issued a new statement saying: “In revenge for the pure blood of His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Imam Sayyid Ali al-Husseini Khamenei, which was shed unjustly and treacherously at the hands of the criminal Zionist enemy, and in defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of responding to repeated Israeli aggressions, we targeted at midnight Sunday-Monday, March 2, 2026, with a salvo of qualitative missiles and a swarm of drones, the Mishmar HaCarmel missile defense site belonging to the Israeli enemy army south of the occupied city of Haifa.”

The party stressed: “The Resistance leadership has always affirmed that the continued Israeli aggressions and the assassination of our leaders, youth, and people give us the right to defend and respond at the appropriate time and place.” It asserted that “the Israeli enemy cannot continue its aggression, which has lasted for 15 months, without meeting a warning response to stop this aggression and withdraw from occupied Lebanese lands.”

It concluded its statement by saying: “This response is a legitimate defensive response, and officials and concerned parties must put an end to the Israeli-American aggression on Lebanon. The Resistance is in the heart of the battle and is committed to being faithful to the blood of the martyrs.” With this statement, which carried a political and ideological clarification of what occurred, the Islamic Resistance announced its official entry into the war, beginning the execution of daily operations against Israeli targets.

In this context, we note—by way of example and not limitation—that Hezbollah carried out 20 operations yesterday, Friday, March 6th, and no fewer than 9 operations today, Saturday, until the writing of this report.

The night of today witnessed a qualitative operation by the Resistance in Lebanon, represented by repelling an aerial landing of Israeli special forces in the town of Nabi Shayth, located in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon. The town saw violent confrontations between the two sides, and the attacking force failed to achieve its objective.

Media outlets announced that the Israeli force fell into a tight ambush at the hands of the party’s fighters, leading to the belief that it sustained direct human casualties among its ranks, including dead and wounded. Additionally, videos circulated on social media showing the party and local residents fiercely confronting Israeli helicopters in the area. Other clips featured comments from local residents stating that the Resistance shot down one Israeli helicopter and captured one or more soldiers; however, this information has not been officially confirmed yet.

The party issued the following statement regarding what happened in Nabi Shayth: “The mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance, at 22:30 on the evening of yesterday, Friday 06-03-2026, monitored the infiltration of 4 helicopters belonging to the Israeli enemy army from the Syrian direction, where they proceeded to land an infantry force at the triangle of the outskirts of the towns of Yahfoufa, Al-Khraiba, and Maaraboun.

The hostile infantry force advanced toward the eastern neighborhood of the town of Nabi Shayth (Al-Shukr neighborhood), and upon reaching the cemetery at 11:30, a group of Islamic Resistance mujahideen engaged them with light and medium weapons.

The clash escalated after the hostile force was exposed, leading the enemy to resort to executing intensive fire belts involving about forty raids, using warplanes and helicopters to secure the withdrawal of the force from the engagement area. Meanwhile, the Resistance artillery unit carried out concentrated shelling with appropriate weapons on the vicinity of the engagement area and along the withdrawal path of the hostile force, while residents of neighboring villages participated in fire support.”

As for the Lebanese Army, it issued a separate statement announcing: “On the night of 6-7/3/2026, at 22:50, army units monitored 4 hostile Israeli helicopters over the Al-Khraiba-Baalbek area at the Lebanese-Syrian border, where two helicopters landed a hostile force in the vicinity of the area, coinciding with violent and widespread aerial bombardment of neighboring villages.

Following this, specialized military units implemented immediate alert and defense measures and fired flares to reveal the landing zone, while members of the hostile force had disappeared from sight.

The landing was punctuated by hostile shelling and sweeping of the area, followed by an exchange of fire between the hostile force and the people of the region after this force moved from the landing site to the Nabi Shayth area, with the operation continuing until approximately 3:00 AM. 3 military personnel and a number of citizens were martyred as a result of the violent hostile shelling that accompanied the operation. Follow-up is underway to determine the circumstances of the operation.”

Immediately after the Israeli force fell into the ambush, Israeli aircraft began scanning the area with intensive bombing to clear the way for its soldiers to withdraw, and perhaps within the framework of activating the “Hannibal Directive” to prevent military personnel from being captured by the Resistance.

Until the writing of this report, the Israeli bombing of the area resulted in the martyrdom of 41 people and the injury of 40 others. Since the beginning of the general Israeli aggression on Lebanon on March 2nd, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the martyrdom of 294 citizens and the injury of 1,023 others.

It later became clear, according to press reports, that the objective of the Israeli force that carried out the aerial landing in Nabi Shayth—and which faced the tight ambush by Hezbollah—was to find the remains of Ron Arad. Arad is an Israeli pilot and navigator who has been missing in Lebanon since October 1986 (his military aircraft was hit during a raid on Lebanon and crashed, after which he was captured by the Lebanese Resistance), and his fate remains unknown today despite nearly four decades since his disappearance. His case is considered one of the most mysterious files in the history of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict and one of the most painful for Israeli intelligence, returning to the forefront from time to time with new Israeli attempts to search for information regarding him or his remains.

Local press sources mentioned that the Israeli side might have obtained new information regarding the location of the missing soldier’s burial, noting that this information came from Ahmed Shukr, a retired Lebanese General Security officer who disappeared in December 2025 under mysterious circumstances, amid security and judicial speculation that Israeli intelligence lured and kidnapped him due to suspicious links to the Ron Arad file.

In conclusion, the failure of the Israeli landing operation in Nabi Shayth reflects a clear intelligence failure. The issue lies in the fact that Israel coordinated a large-scale operation involving landing troops on the ground with the aim of recovering the body of its pilot but failed to achieve its goal and instead fell into an ambush.

The always-cautious Israel cannot expose troops to danger and the possibility of casualties, deaths, or even captives just for an attempt or weak possibilities of achieving a goal. Things point to one possibility: that Israel possessed a “golden” and decisive piece of information, based on which it planned the operation, only to find later that there were no belongings or remains of Ron Arad at the site.

The war continues at full speed, and with it, Hezbollah’s military operations of various types and weaponry. The coming days may bring resounding developments in this regard.