Smoke after an Israeli strike on Bint Jbeil, in southern Lebanon, on April 8, 2026. (Credit: Ayal Margolin/Reuters)
The new battle of Bint Jbeil has begun. For the first time on Thursday since the start of Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah militiamen fought with an Israeli force in the center of the main city in the central sector of the South, which holds symbolic importance for the party.
In a statement, the group reported "direct clashes" with Israeli soldiers who were trying to advance toward the Bint Jbeil souk, while "Israeli military positions" around the city were attacked with rocket and artillery fire alongside the fighting.
The clashes were confirmed by our correspondent's sources in the South, and explosions could be heard in the area. For days, the Israeli army had been trying to encircle this stronghold, located five kilometers from the border, by advancing and reinforcing its positions in the surrounding villages of Dibil, Ainata and Rshaf, in particular.
During the 2006 war, Hezbollah repelled the Israelis from this city after a fierce battle. This locality also holds symbolic importance for Hezbollah, Tehran’s ally, as it was where the party’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, delivered a speech in 2000 celebrating the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon after two decades of occupation. Nasrallah was killed by Israel in an airstrike in 2024.
Israel not considering the Litani as its new border
In addition to developments on the ground in Bint Jbeil, Hezbollah said it attacked an Israeli army bulldozer "with exploding drones" in Taybeh, in the eastern sector.
Despite its plan for a buffer zone in the South, Israel is reportedly not considering making the Litani its new border with Lebanon, contrary to recent statements made by Bezalel Smotrich, the ultra-right finance minister, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters. According to this senior official, the Israeli army plans to monitor the buffer zone with ground troops and carry out raids as needed, without necessarily holding positions along the river.
