Hezbollah planned to deploy fast-moving attack squads on hundreds of specialized off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to bypass Israeli defenses rapidly.
By Hezy Laing
The IDF recently declassified intelligence revealing the comprehensive scope of Hezbollah’s planned cross-border assault strategy, codenamed “Conquer the Galilee.”
Orchestrated by Ibrahim Aqil, the late commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force who was eliminated by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the blueprint outlines a multi-pronged operation designed to dwarf the scale of previous border incursions.
Intelligence documents and field recoveries indicate that Hezbollah had amassed an estimated 5,000 Radwan commandos across dozens of hidden staging grounds directly abutting the United Nations-demarcated Blue Line.
According to the IDF, the operational deployment relied on a vast network of subterranean infrastructure.
Over the past several years, the Radwan Force constructed more than 100 tactical tunnels, bunkers, and weapons caches situated within close proximity to Israeli border communities like Metula, Shlomi, and Misgav Am.
Within these border-adjacent facilities, the IDF uncovered an extensive arsenal left behind by retreating militants, including roughly 3,200 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), primarily Russian-made Kornets and Iranian-made Almas systems, alongside 2,500 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and tens of thousands of automatic rifles.
The strategic objective of “Conquer the Galilee” was to execute a surprise simultaneous breach at 15 distinct points along the international border.
Hezbollah planned to deploy fast-moving attack squads on hundreds of specialized off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to bypass Israeli defenses rapidly.
Once inside Israeli territory, the primary targets were civilian towns and two regional IDF military headquarters.
The plan factored in an initial bombardment consisting of up to 4,000 short-range rockets and mortar shells within the first two hours to suppress Israeli localized counterattacks.
Israeli forces initiated localized ground raids to systematically dismantle these attack vectors.
The engineering units have since neutralized approximately 40 kilometers of combat tunnels and fortified staging points, successfully disabling the immediate infrastructure required to execute the invasion.
Since October 2023, the IDF says it has eliminated more than 3,500 Hezbollah terrorists, including senior commanders such as Wissam al‑Tawil of the Radwan Force and Ali al‑Dibs, a key drone‑operations officer.
The IDF also reports destroying dozens of observation posts, weapons depots, and tunnel entrances along the border.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated that the exposure of Hezbollah’s invasion plan “removed any doubt” about the organization’s long‑term intentions, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that Israel “will not allow a second October 7 on any front.”
Israeli officials say the intelligence trove continues to expand as new materials are collected, forming the basis for ongoing military, diplomatic, and strategic decisions regarding the northern arena.
