Jerusalem, Oct 8 (EFE).- The Israeli military reported on Tuesday that the 146th Armored Division began “limited, localized, targeted operations” in southwestern Lebanon.
On Monday the division joined three others that had already been called up after the ground invasion eight days ago.
This adds thousands of additional soldiers to Israel’s ground offensive. According to the Times of Israel, the total number of soldiers deployed in Lebanon could already exceed 15,000.
This is the first reserve division in the neighboring country, which joins three permanent divisions that already operated in the central and eastern areas of southern Lebanon: the 98th, the 36th and the 91st, the latter called up Monday.
“Since the beginning of the war, the headquarters of the 146th Division has served as a defensive regional brigade and its forces were deployed in northern Israel, the Gaza Strip, and in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank),” said a military statement.
Since the beginning of Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Lebanon about two weeks ago, more than 1.2 million people have been forced to leave their homes.
In addition, since a year ago, more than 2,080 people have died and some 9,800 have been injured, according to the Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Health, most of them in recent weeks. EFE
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