BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese state media said Tuesday that Israeli tanks entered the outskirts of the village of Khiam, their deepest incursion yet into south Lebanon in a ground operation launched last month.
The official National News Agency reported the entry of 鈥渁 large number of tanks belonging to the Israeli occupation army鈥� into the eastern outskirts of Khiam, some six kilometers (nearly four miles) from the border with Israel.
Hezbollah said it destroyed two tanks using guided missiles and targeted Israeli troops south and southwest of Khiam with rockets and artillery.
Lebanon鈥檚 National News Agency said Israeli forces carried out a series of air attacks on Khiam later on Tuesday and launched a large-scale sweep 鈥渦sing heavy and medium weaponry.鈥�
Iran-backed Hezbollah, which named deputy chief Naim Qassem as its new leader on Tuesday, has been battling Israeli forces in Lebanese border villages since the ground invasion began on September 30.
According to an AFP count based on Lebanese health ministry figures, 1,754 people have been killed nationwide since intensive Israeli strikes on Lebanon began.
Hezbollah claims that Israeli forces are yet to assert full control over any village in Lebanon, weeks into the invasion, amid repeated operations to repel Israeli attempts at infiltration.
The large town of Khiam holds symbolic significance.
It was home to a notorious prison run by the South Lebanon Army, an Israeli proxy militia, during Israel鈥檚 occupation of south Lebanon.
Israeli troops withdrew from the region in 2000 after 22 years.