The Israeli Navy disclosed Thursday that Shayetet 13 commandos invaded Naqoura from the sea two days ago, marking the first seaborne special forces operation inside Lebanon since 2000 and revealing expanded joint activity with the Mossad and Shin Bet since the October 7 massacre.

The Navy said the Naqoura raid reflects a new posture of forward-leaning defense adopted across the IDF after October 7. For ground forces, that shift has produced buffer zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. For the Navy, it has meant more aggressive special forces operations behind enemy lines.

Without specifying dates or locations, the Navy said it had dispatched five Shayetet 13 soldiers on a mission thousands of kilometers from Israel with no support and no immediate rescue plan in the event of complications. In a separate operation, Shayetet 13 deployed to a region where it had never previously operated.

Joint operations with the Mossad have reached unprecedented levels, the Navy said. Naval intelligence was directly involved in the killing of Iranian Naval Chief Alireza Tangsiri and helped the Israeli Air Force strike key Iranian naval cruise missiles and sites connected to submarines and other underwater threats.

The Navy also disclosed, for the first time, its role in the March 8 strike on the Ramada Hotel in Beirut that killed five senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force officials serving as liaisons with Hezbollah. The Navy fired 14 missiles in the attack. The targets included top commanders in Quds Force-Hezbollah intelligence and terror financing, as well as officials with links to Palestinian terror groups in Lebanon. According to the IDF, the terror financing official was the key figure in transferring $770 million from Iran to Hezbollah over the past year.

The Mossad has long held lead responsibility for locating and assassinating senior Iranian officials inside Iran and Quds Force figures abroad. The Navy’s integration into that mission represents a recent expansion. IDF intelligence is also typically involved, and the Navy described its cooperation with the other agencies in recent years as unparalleled.

In Gaza, the Shin Bet has led planning for top-level Hamas assassinations, most of which have been carried out by the Air Force. On Thursday, the Navy revealed it had also participated in several of those operations.

On November 19, 2025, the Navy worked with Israeli intelligence to assassinate Hamas naval chief Abdullah Abu Samael after Hamas significantly violated the ceasefire. On March 16, the Shin Bet, the Navy, and IDF intelligence jointly killed Yunas Mahmoud Hasin Elian, a top Hamas naval commander the IDF said was substantially responsible for efforts to reconstitute a Hamas naval threat against Israel. On March 31, the Navy and other Israeli intelligence agencies assassinated Hezbollah’s southern front commander, Hajj Yusuf Ismail Hashem.

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