(Erik Marmor/Getty Images)

Hezbollah was preparing Lebanon's borderlands with Israel for an "Oct. 7-style invasion" before the Jewish state’s special forces dismantled its underground tunnel system in "targeted ground raids," the Israeli Defense Forces said Tuesday. The Biden-Harris administration anonymously teased those raids ahead of time, prompting criticism from a senior Israeli official.

"Hezbollah had prepared to use those villages as staging grounds for an Oct. 7-style invasion … into Israeli homes," IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari revealed Tuesday as Israeli forces continued to hammer Hezbollah’s operations centers and weapons depots. "Hezbollah planned to invade Israel, attack Israeli communities, and massacre innocent men, women, and children." 

The IDF referred to the subsequent raids the Jewish state conducted to prevent the attack as "limited, localized, [and] targeted," with Israeli forces mobilizing to degrade Hezbollah's tunnel system and destroy weapons depots established along Lebanon's southern border. It launched more than 70 ground raids, Hagari said.

In the wake of the ground incursion, Israel addressed the Biden-Harris administration’s move to leak its battle plans in advance. An unnamed U.S. official informed the press on Monday that Israel was organizing assets along the border, speaking "on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks between the two governments." The leak frustrated the Jewish state, according to an Israeli official.

"We didn't like it. The leaks were a dangerous move. They endangered the fighting forces," the official told Kann 11 reporter Amichai Stein on Tuesday. "This was done even though the U.S. supported the operation, but it is clear to us that the U.S. is worried—and therefore, they outed the operation to try and limit it."

The Biden-Harris administration has been scrambling in recent days to stave off a full-scale Israeli ground assault, seeing it as a prelude to a massive Middle Eastern war that will entangle American forces and spark a direct conflict with Hezbollah’s masters in Iran. The decision to leak Israel’s war plans appears to be part of a diplomatic pressure campaign aimed at making the Jewish state’s military operations more complicated. Israel, however, has shown it is undeterred. Public gatherings in major Israeli cities, including the port city of Haifa, have been canceled as Israel prepares for further missile attacks by Hezbollah and an even larger strike by Iran in the coming hours and days.

With Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah dead from an Israeli airstrike late last week, Israel sees an opportunity to finally defang the Iran-backed terror group for good.

"The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not the final one," Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday during a speech to troops stationed on the Jewish state's northern border. "We will use all the means that may be required—your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land."

The raids, which targeted Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, helped Israel collect critical intelligence ahead of the planned ground invasion.

The primary goal of Israel’s campaign is to return upwards of 50,000 displaced residents to their homes in the country’s northern territories.

"If you're going to tell people it's safe to come home, it better be safe to come home," said Richard Goldberg, a former White House National Security Council member and regional analyst. "Getting rid of tunnel infrastructure, clearing out missile stockpiles, and ensuring no one ever sees a Hezbollah flag from their window ever again is the only way to give people the confidence to return."

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