The Israeli military has nearly completed the capture of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 members of the terror group in the area in the process, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

Bint Jbeil is considered a symbol of Hezbollah power and the IDF has been encircling the town in recent weeks as it seeks to extend its control of southern Lebanon after the Iran-backed group broke the ceasefire that had been in place since November 2024 to support Tehran.

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the IDF battled the terror group in the town but failed to capture it fully. Earlier, in May 2000, after the IDF withdrew from southern Lebanon following an 18-year occupation, then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivered a victory speech in Bint Jbeil, where he infamously described Israel as “weaker than a spider web.”

The operation in Bint Jbeil was being led by the 98th Division with its Paratroopers and Commando brigades, along with the Givati Infantry Brigade.

The IDF said it initially isolated and encircled the town to prevent Hezbollah from bringing in reinforcements or escaping.

At least 150 Hezbollah operatives, including members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, were estimated by the IDF to have been in the Bint Jbeil area ahead of the operation.

The 98th Division also carried out several commando operations as it worked to secure the town, a military official said.

“Over the past week, the forces completed the encirclement and launched an offensive in the town of Bint Jbeil,” the IDF said in a statement on Monday.

“The troops eliminated more than 100 terrorists from the Hezbollah terror organization in close-quarters combat and from the air, destroyed dozens of terrorist infrastructures, and located hundreds of weapons in the area,” the statement added.

During the operation, the military captured Bint Jbeil’s stadium, where Nasrallah delivered the infamous victory speech following the IDF’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

“Bint Jbeil 2000: There was someone here who spoke and boasted about webs and spiders. Today, that man no longer exists, the stadium is gone, and his words are worth nothing,” said 98th Division commander Brig. Gen. Guy Levy in a missive to troops on Monday

“Bint Jbeil 2026: Our forces control the area, destroying terror infrastructure and dozens of terrorists,” he added.

Since the IDF began its offensive in Bint Jbeil, the military had not detected any rocket attacks from the town on Israel. IDF troops, however, have come under fire by Hezbollah from Bint Jbeil, though the military official said the rate of attacks was slowing.

Several IDF soldiers have been wounded during the offensive in Bint Jbeil, according to the military. On Sunday, two paratroopers were moderately injured in a Hezbollah rocket attack in the area.

The official said he estimated that it would likely take a few more days to complete the operations in Bint Jbeil, during which the division aims to kill the remaining few dozen operatives there and locate the terror group’s infrastructure.

On Sunday, Lebanon’s official news agency reported “fierce clashes” between the Israeli military and Hezbollah in Bint Jbeil, and said that IDF troops were “still trying to infiltrate and take control of the remaining neighborhoods.”

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said on Sunday that it had launched rockets at Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of the town. Last week, the terror group said it had used light arms and RPG fire against Israeli soldiers who were advancing in the town.

During the offensive in Bint Jbeil, the IDF announced on Sunday that it had raided a hospital in the town where armed Hezbollah operatives had been holed up, killing some 20 gunmen and seizing weapons in the process.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed over 1,800 people since hostilities escalated on March 2, in a toll that does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. According to IDF tallies released Friday, more than 1,400 Hezbollah operatives have been killed over the same period.

Twelve IDF soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon amid the renewed fighting against Hezbollah, two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

The operation to capture Bint Jbeil comes with the first in-person meeting in the expected negotiations between Israel and Lebanon to take place on Tuesday in Washington.

The talks, which will be hosted at the US State Department, come amid reports of alarm from the White House over the scale of Israel’s massive wave of strikes in Lebanon following the ceasefire announcement between the US and Iran on Wednesday.

Iran is demanding that Lebanon be part of the ceasefire, but Israel insists it is not.

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