Israeli troops have taken operational control of a destroyed stadium in southeastern Lebanon where slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah once threatened the Jewish state, the military said on Monday, confirming a major raid in the Bint Jbeil area.

“Bint Jbeil in the year 2000. Someone stood here, in this field, and claimed that Israel is a cobweb filled with spiders that must be exterminated. Today, that man is gone, the compound is gone, and his words are worth nothing,” Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, commander of the 98th Paratroopers Division, said in a statement shared with reporters.

“Our troops have operational control of the area, dismantling terror infrastructure and eliminating dozens of terrorists,” the general said.

“Behind us are the residents of the north whom we protect; ahead of us are national days that remind us why we are fighting and for what we are fighting,” Levy added, in reference to Israel’s Remembrance and Independence days, which are this year marked on April 21 and 22, respectively.

“With us are the very best forces: people of courage, capability, determination and steadfast spirit,” he said.

Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27, 2024, in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in the heart of Beirut’s southern district. Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed earlier on Monday that the Iranian-supported Hezbollah leader likely died of suffocation following the attack and had “a few minutes to think about how wrong he was in understanding the Jews—that we have changed.”

Levy’s remarks at the stadium where Nasrallah delivered his May 26, 2000, speech followed an IDF announcement that the 98th Division had carried out a targeted ground operation in Bint Jbeil over the past week.

The soldiers “struck and eliminated more than 100 Hezbollah terrorist operatives, both in close-quarters combat and through aerial strikes, dismantled dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites and located hundreds of weapons in the area, including weapons located in and around civilian infrastructure,” the army said.

A military official told JNS on Monday that the operation was launched following indications that Hezbollah terrorists planned to infiltrate Israel from Bint Jbeil. Following fierce fighting in the town, only a small number of terrorists remain and the threat has been neutralized, the official stressed.

“Full operational control of Bint Jbeil will be achieved within days,” the official predicted, noting that the IDF since the ceasefire with Iran has defined Southern Lebanon as the “main operational front” of “Operation Rising Lion” against the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, peace talks between Israel and Lebanon are expected to kick off at the U.S. State Department on Tuesday following Beirut’s promise to outlaw the Iranian terrorist proxy.

“As a result of this power we demonstrated, Lebanon turned to us in the last month, turned several times, to start direct peace talks,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on Saturday night.

“This has never happened in history; well, it happened once decades ago [under Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel, who was assassinated in September 1982], but now they turned to us and I approved it subject to two things: We want to reach the disarming of Hezbollah and we want a real peace agreement, a peace agreement that will last for generations,” the prime minister said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Monday said he discussed the negotiations with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, who is set to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut this week.

“I said that it’s important to sever the link between Iran and Lebanon. Iran effectively controls Lebanon through Hezbollah. This is how Iran once again involved Lebanon in a war against its will,” wrote Sa’ar on X.

According to Jerusalem’s top diplomat, “Hezbollah’s attack against Israel on March 2 served Iranian interests, not Lebanese ones—just like Hezbollah’s joining of Hamas’s attack on Oct. 8, 2023.”

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israel on March 2, in retaliation for the Jewish state’s targeted killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of the war.

In response to the terrorist organization’s violation of the U.S.-brokered Nov. 27, 2024, truce agreement, Jerusalem launched an aerial campaign against Hezbollah and ordered IDF troops to advance and take control of additional areas in Southern Lebanon to halt cross-border attacks.

Hezbollah has continued in recent days to fire rockets and explosive-laden drones at northern Israeli communities, with air-raid sirens sounding again Monday afternoon. No major injuries have been reported in this week’s attacks.

The IDF Home Front Command on Saturday night announced the suspension of educational activities and restricted public gatherings in the north following an assessment that Hezbollah would intensify attacks on border communities.

The restrictions had been relaxed on April 9 following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran. JNS