Beirut – While settlers in northern Israeli are still on the run after losing trust in the Netanyahu cabinet, the people of Odaisseh liberated the Lebanese town on Tuesday morning, February 18, 2025, after a forced absence of more than a year.

The Israeli army radio had previously stated: “Odaisseh will remain firmly rooted in the Israeli collective memory as the village that witnessed one of the most difficult battles in the war, where 6 Egoz unit fighters fell in an ambush set by Hezbollah.”

MaskafAm’s settlers were amazed at the speed with which Odaisseh’s villagers began to rebuild their village. 

Israel Today said: “The residents of the north are worried: How will we return when there is no infrastructure, and many homes in many settlements have not yet been renovated, and the education systems are not ready? Will we return to seeing convoys of Hezbollah flags in the villages near the fence?” 

Yedioth Ahronoth in turn wrote: “A long convoy of cars lined up at the entrance to the village of Odaisseh. Engineering machinery was busy removing the rubble and working to restore the village’s infrastructure.”

“I vowed to sacrifice my son as a martyr just like Sayyedah Zahraa. Thanks to his blood and sacrifices, we have emerged victorious. If I had more sons, I would have sacrificed them all. No one will take away the resistance’s weapon,” said one of the mothers of the heroes of the Odaisseh Ambush, Sayyed Mahdi al-Moussawi, a missed martyr (Shaheed Gomnãm).

On the other side of the border, Libi Fox, a member of Kibbutz Maskaf Am, said: “I don’t see here the image of victory for Israel.” Ofer Moskowitz, another member also commented: “This takes me back to 2006, when we left Lebanon after the war in exactly the same way,” it added. 

Odaisseh is the closest Lebanese point to Palestine. It was the first town occupied by the Israeli enemy in 1977, and the last village to be expelled from it in May 2000. To the north, it is bordered by Kfar Kila; to the south, Markaba and Hounin (one of the seven occupied Lebanese villages).

In 1920, according to the San Remo Agreement and the Paulet-Newcombe Agreement, 7 Lebanese border villages were annexed to Palestine: Hounin, on whose ruins the settlement of Margaliot was established; Salha, on whose ruins the settlements of Yiron and Avivim were established; Al-Malikiyah, on whose ruins the settlement of Malikah was established; Ibl al-Qamh, on whose ruins the settlement of Yoshav Yuval was established; Al-Nabiyusha, on whose ruins the settlement of Ramot Naftali was established; Qadas, on whose ruins the settlement of Yiftach was established;  Tarbikha and the settlement of Shumra was built on its ruins. 

Before Hezbollah’s Odaisseh Ambush Operation, the Washington Post revealed an Israeli army official saying: “Our forces carried out 70 secret operations in Lebanon over the past year.” However, Hezbollah’s heroes humiliated the elite forces.

According to Hezbollah’s military media, in the early hours of October 1, 2024, the Mujahideen monitored reconnaissance movements of the Israeli enemy army in Odaisseh. They were able to set up an advanced ambush. On the next day, more than 30 officers & soldiers silently infiltrated the ambush area. With the call of “Labbaik Ya Nasrallah”, the Mujahideen showered them with a hail of bullets from their light weapons, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades at zero distance, “which resulted in many dead and wounded who were screaming and wailing.”

It continued: “At the same time, the resistance’s close support groups targeted the enemy’s supply lines in Misgav Am, Kfar Giladi, and Matla with mortar shells and missiles,” noting that the Israeli helicopters immediately intervened to evacuate the dead and wounded.

Despite the Israeli attempt to cover up a large number of losses, Israeli Ziv Hospital confirmed that it received 39 wounded, including 3 in critical condition. Yedioth Ahronoth described what happened as a “catastrophe.”

The timing of the operation is highly significant, given that it occurred a few days after the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. It revealed the failure of the Israeli assessment and its inability to penetrate the ground despite its intensive bombardment of the area since October 2023, while Western envoys were threatening Hezbollah.

Channel 13 reported that Odaisseh Ambush Operation “showed that Hezbollah’s defensive formations operate and fight like an army.”

Indeed, this confirms the great influence of the Galilee in northern occupied Palestine –strategically, politically, economically and socially – in the long term on the collective consciousness of the colonial entity.

Galilee is an integrated quasi-state that extends from the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee in the north to the Beisan Valley and Ramot Menashe in the south on an area of 3,324 square kilometres (without the Golan).

It is considered an economic, security and military tributary to the temporary entity. Its topographical nature also ensures the geographical expansion of “Greater Israel” in addition to its military importance as it includes strategic heights.

By the end of the 19th century, Galilee was he center of kibbutzim occupied by veteran Jews who were brought from Syria and Lebanon as it is a fertile agricultural land containing underground water reservoirs that made it a major base for food security in the temporary entity.

The 417 settlements in the north comprise 34.6% of all settlements. Before October 2023, they were inhabited by about 1.52 million people. Those settlers complained about the absence of an organized evacuation plan that had shaken the Zionist communities. 

In light of the inability to adapt to society, since the majority of families are of a rural agricultural nature. They currently suffer from high rates of mental illness, sexual assault, domestic violence, moral decadence, and the dissolution of family ties. They feel that they are merely “cannon fodder for Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba, and Eilat.”

It is believed that any harm that affects the northern kibbutzim is harm to the foundations of the Hebrew colonial “state”. Their factories were closed. Plains and farms were abandoned. Commercial activity declined by 75% and several investment companies moved outside occupied Palestine.

Armored personnel carriers caused damage to roads, water and sewage pipes, gas, and orchards. Many homes, shops, educational institutions, and recreational facilities were severely damaged.

The Bank of Israel had estimated that the absence of 57,600 settlers in the north from work costs the Israeli economy – weekly – about $63.2 million. 

Annually, the Galilee is visited by about 1.5 million tourists; its only ski resort annually receives about 400,000 visitors. Its closure caused a huge economic loss and the dismissal of about 400 employees. 

These damages raise the possibility that the northern colonial settlers will not return with the same momentum as the Lebanese on the other side of the border.