Israel Faces Iran-Backed 'Ring of Fire' in Ground War with Hezbollah

Israel continues to face attacks from a range of Iran-aligned forces from across the region as Israeli troops attempt to battle their way deeper into Hezbollah's stronghold of southern Lebanon.

"We've seen incidents from Lebanon coming out from different groups throughout this war," Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told Newsweek during a press briefing Friday.

"We've been mostly fighting Hezbollah, which has fired over 10,000 rockets, missiles and UAVs against Israel, but we've seen fire from different groups, specifically Palestinian groups, groups affiliated with Hamas, that fire towards Israel," he added. "We've seen groups attacks us from Syria and Iraq as part of this Iranian strategy of a ring of fire around Israel."

After the briefing, Shoshani told Newsweek that the IDF has "been able to eliminate all sorts of terrorists from different groups in southern Lebanon," particularly from Hamas. The most senior among them, he noted, was Hamas Political Bureau deputy chair Saleh al-Arouri in January, though he said that "alongside him [there have been] many more, so that's something that we've been facing."

"It's something we've been facing for the last year," Shoshani said, "something we're very aware of moving forward, and something that is part of our calculations and preparations as we move forward."

Shortly after the conversation, the IDF announced that two Israeli soldiers had been killed and two dozen more injured in a drone attack originating from Iraq against the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

Hours earlier, a collective of militias known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched three separate drone operations targeting the Golan Heights and the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.

As with countless other attacks claimed by the Iraqi militia coalition since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement last October, the strikes were said to have been conducted "in continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, and in support of our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly."

"The Islamic Resistance confirms the continuation of operations to destroy the strongholds of the enemies at an escalating pace," the statement said.

Newsweek has reached out to representatives of Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq as well as the Iranian Mission to the United Nations for comment.

Iranian officials have stated that they did not have control over or give orders to fellow factions of the Axis of Resistance, a broad network of Tehran-aligned forces that includes Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, the Syrian government and Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, among others originating from as far away as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At the same time, Tehran has touted its support for these groups and has urged greater mobilization since in the year since Hamas launched its surprise attack against Israel last October, sparking the ongoing war in Gaza. In June, the Iranian Mission warned in a statement that "all options, incl. the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table" in response to looming a Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The IDF commenced what it referred to as "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids" across the Lebanese border on Monday, days after killing Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in southern Beirut amid intensified air raids against the neighboring country. Also killed was Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Abbas Nilforushan.

The following day, Iran launched its most intensive direct missile strike on Israel to date, calling it retaliation for the deaths of Nasrallah, Nilforushan as well as Hamas Political Bureau director Ismail Haniyeh, who was slain in Tehran in July. Haniyeh's death went unclaimed, but as with a series of deadly blasts that rocked communication devices used primarily by Hezbollah and wounded Iran's ambassador to Lebanon last month, the act has been widely attributed to Israel and its vast spy network.

As Israel vowed to strike back against Iran, the IDF conducted a new bombardment of southern Beirut on Thursday that a number of media reports indicated may have targeted Hezbollah Executive Council leader Hashem Safieddine, considered by some to be Nasrallah's heir.

Shoshani declined to discuss the identity of the target or the results of the operation, but did say that the location struck was Hezbollah's "central intelligence headquarters."

The Lebanese Health Ministry said Thursday that 1,974 people have been killed over the past year as a result of Israeli attack in Lebanon over the past year. The Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry has placed the toll of those killed in the Hamas-held territory at 41,802 throughout the course of the conflict.

Israeli officials estimate that around 1,200 people were killed in the initial Hamas-led attack on Israel last October. As of last week, 346 Israeli troops have been killed since the IDF began its ground offensive in Gaza later that same month, according to the Israeli military.

This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.