Intelligence: Hezbollah Plans to Kidnap IDF Soldiers for Leverage

Against the backdrop of its eroding standing within Lebanon and mounting pressure across the region, Hezbollah has set a new objective: kidnapping Israeli soldiers. According to intelligence officials in a neighboring country, the terror group sees such a move as a way to create bargaining chips against Israel while trying to rebuild its popularity inside Lebanon. The report was published this morning (Wednesday) on Kan News, Reshet Bet.

According to those intelligence officials, Hezbollah is not necessarily seeking a direct or routine operation, but is exploring different options and trying to identify "creative weak spots" that would enable the abduction of Israeli soldiers. In the background is also the fact that some militants from the organization are still being held in Israeli prison. The most prominent among them is a senior officer in Hezbollah's naval unit, who was abducted in an unusual Israeli raid in northern Lebanon. From the organization's perspective, this reality further sharpens its desire to obtain its own levers of pressure against Israel.

The intelligence assessment is that Hezbollah does not view a kidnapping merely as a tactical move, but as a tool with broader significance. According to those officials, the organization believes that the abduction of Israeli soldiers could both hurt the Israeli effort and complicate the internal-Lebanese effort to disarm it. Beyond that, Hezbollah believes that such an achievement could help it reach a cease-fire agreement on terms more favorable than those achieved in November 2024.