Israel began conducting airstrikes on Lebanon on September 23, and as a result, the Israeli Defense Force and the Lebanese Army are likely to go head-to-head to defend their nations.
The airstrikes are part of what Israel is calling a "new phase" of the war, shifting its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, and were preceded by Israel's exploding pager attacks in Lebanon and Syria last week and Hezbollah's firing of missiles into Northern Israel.
Since Israel's "Operation Northern Arrows" began in various parts of the country, Lebanon has reported that 558 people have been killed, and 1,835 have been wounded, according to Al-Jazeera.
Israel's latest conflicts have been with Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party that has a military branch known as the Jihad Council, although Hezbollah's military group is not the national military branch of Lebanon.
The Institute for the Study of War told Newsweek that it anticipates "Hezbollah will be the primary enemy force the IDF engages," rather than the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Here is an overview of the background and abilities of both the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces.
The Lebanese Armed Forces
The Lebanese Armed Forces are split into three branches including the ground forces, the air force, and the navy, and they are assigned to the missions of defense, security, and development.
"The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have become an increasingly professional and capable national military institution after the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005. However the LAF has failed to curtail the autonomy of Lebanon's political forces, and it has struggled to stave off political penetration of military ranks," Aram Nerguizian, a senior advisor, program on civil-military relations in Arab states, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, wrote for the Carnegie Endowment.
Lebanon's 2024 army is entirely volunteer-based and consists of "approximately 73,000 active troops (70,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 1,500 Air Force)", according to the CIA World Factbook.
The LAF is headquartered in Yarze, a town in the southeast district of Beirut, the nation's capital.
The armed forces in Lebanon began allowing women to enroll in the 1980s, and as of 2024, women account for about 5 percent of the force, CIA World Factbook reports.
The Lebanese Armed Forces came to prominence in the mid-20th century (1945).
According to GlobalFirepower.com, Lebanon's Armed Forces are ranked 118th out of the 145 countries considered for the annual review in 2024 in terms of strength.
The Lebanese Armed Forces imported weapons from the United States, Czechia, and Turkey in 2022, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
The Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was founded in 194, and consists of three branches including the ground forces, the Israeli air force, and the Israeli navy.
Service in the military, unlike Lebanon, is not voluntary in Israel, and those who are Jewish, Druze, or Circassian must serve in the IDF once they turn 18, with notable exceptions including other Israeli Arabs and religious women, according to the IDF's website.
Men in the IDF are required to serve a minimum of 32 months, while women are required to serve a minimum of two years.
The IDF is ranked 17th out of 145 countries considered for the annual review in 2024 in terms of strength, according to GlobalFirepower.com.
The Israel Defense Forces releases news briefs as well as a podcast called the Mission Brief: The Official IDF podcast.
The IDF's motto is "Defense is our mission—security is our goal," and as of 2023 had approximately 170,000 active-duty personnel (130,000 Ground Forces; 10,000 Naval; 30,000 Air Force) (2023) and 300-400,000 reserve personnel, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The IDF is supplied with materials by the US, the UK, Germany, and Italy, according to the BBC.
In comparison to the Lebanese Armed Forces, the IDF has more weapons suppliers, active and reserve personnel, and more funding, as it had a budget of $24.4 billion in 2024, compared to Lebanon's $995 million, according to Global Firepower.
The Israel Defense Forces are known for using Krav Maga as their physical combat style and for conducting targeted killings throughout its history, according to the Associated Press.
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