Israeli media reveals details of Israel's failed invasion of Lebanon for the first time, including the Battle of Odaisseh (south Lebanon) in October 2024
56 IDF soldiers were killed or injured in the first day of the battle (including the IDF Company Commander, who was killed on the first day), and the IDF withdrew from Odaisseh after less than a week of battles with Hezbollah's elite Redwan Force
"They [IDF soldiers] were not afraid in Rafah, but that night in Lebanon their balls were shaking"
In October 2024, after Israel had assassinated most of Hezbollah's senior military command, and Sayed Nasrallah, and carried out the mass-scale terrorist pager attacks, the IDF launched its invasion into south Lebanon, and one of the biggest battles was in the border town of Odaisseh
A new report in Israeli media reveals testimony from this battle for the first time:
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The last time Lieutenant Eitan Oster, a team commander in the Egoz unit, spoke to his older brother Eviatar was the day before he was killed. Eitan told him that he was going on a dangerous and important operation, from which he was not sure he would return. Oster's team set off two days before Rosh Hashanah, to the village of Al-Adeisa in southern Lebanon. They checked out the area but did not feel prepared for the mission. "
His soldiers said they were not afraid in Khan Yunis, they were not afraid in Rafah, but that night in Lebanon their balls were shaking," said Alik, his oldest brother, in an interview after his death.
Oster recognized the fear of his subordinates. Contrary to popular belief, he was the first to enter the building, which was fortified with resistance fighters and quickly became a death trap. At 4:15 in the morning, he was shot in the leg. Only after more than three hours, at 7:24, did the IDF helicopter that rescued him take off to Ziv Hospital in Safed. He arrived at the hospital alive, but the large amount of blood he lost led to his death being declared within a short time. Four other Egoz fighters died in the same battle – Captain Harel Ettinger, Major General Noam Barzilai, Major General Or Manzur, Major General Nezer Itkin, as well as Captain Itai Ariel Giat from the Yahalam unit.
The battle for El Adeisa began on October 2, less than two days after the start of the maneuver, and just a few hundred meters from Kibbutz Misgav Am Ha-Tsefoni. It began around 3:00 a.m., in complete darkness and under heavy fog. The Egoz unit, an infantry commando unit specializing in fighting Hezbollah's Radwan force, was chosen to lead the mission. For nine hours, the forces fought dozens of Hezbollah fighters in a bloody battle, in which
six IDF fighters were killed and 42 others were wounded, including aid forces who came to rescue and were shot themselves.
Warnings about the impending disaster began long before the battle. According to testimonies that reached the "hottest spot," many of the fighters entered Lebanon with a feeling of burnout and unpreparedness - both operationally and mentally. In the days leading up to the battle, operational warnings came from the teams in the field - which were met with dismissal by the commander of the Egoz unit. After the battle, fighters say,
a serious crisis of trust arose in the unit that led many soldiers to refuse to continue serving. This is what the Battle of Adeisa looked like from the eyes of the soldiers of the Egoz unit.
In a conversation with "The Hottest Place," a source familiar with the details said that the
fighters were forced to make their own decisions about who would evacuate and who would not, while they were dealing with a suspicion of the kidnapping of one of the soldiers, which was later disproven.
In one case,
a group of regular fighters from one of the veteran teams refused to continue fighting, demanding to receive treatment.
They asked not to enter Lebanon, but the IDF threatened to take away their fighter ID and all the associated rights. In another case last September, fighters refused to participate in the fighting, but after being emotionally manipulated, they were subdued – and entered.
The difficult feelings led a number of soldiers in the ranks to announce, less than a month after the disaster, that they would no longer enter Lebanon, and that they were requesting to be discharged from service. The fighters responded with threats and manipulation. And at least five of them refused – and were discharged.
The crisis reached other teams in the unit, who made it clear one by one that they could no longer fight.
Another crisis of trust developed when the fighters discovered that the command did not intend to release them for the funeral of their company commander. "They voted with their feet," recalls one of the mothers. "They simply got on the Humvees and said, 'Either you allow us, or we'll do it without you allowing us.'"
שישה לוחמים נהרגו בקרב הראשון בתמרון בלבנון, חמישה מהם מיחידת אגוז. תחקיר ״המקום הכי חם״ חושף את שרשרת המחדלים שהובילה למותם ויצרה ביחידה משבר
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