An Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon appeared imminent Monday night — according to some unconfirmed reports, it had already begun — as defense chiefs spoke of a new stage in the war against Hezbollah, and world leaders engaged in last-minute and seemingly futile appeals for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed terror group.

Lebanese troops pulled back from the border with Israel late on Monday, as the IDF imposed a closed military zone in the area of the northern border communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi.

US officials said the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion could be near.

Israel’s high-level security cabinet also met Monday evening to discuss the latest developments.

Jerusalem had been warning for weeks that it could conduct a limited ground offensive into Lebanon, following the declaration earlier this month that bringing residents of Israel’s north back to their homes, following their evacuation last October under heavy rocket fire from Hezbollah, was an official goal of the war.

Israel has repeatedly said over the past year, given Hezbollah’s daily attacks, that it would not accept anything less than the removal of Hezbollah’s forces from the entire border region so that the terror group cannot threaten Israel’s northern towns with an October 7-style attack.

Earlier, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, said that “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement.”

Reports in Hebrew media Monday said a potential ground operation would be limited in scope and aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit in the border region, but not at holding territory for a long stretch of time, given pressure from the US to limit the scale of any ground incursion.

As reports of troop movements proliferated, the US State Department said that Israel was “currently conducting” limited operations targeting Hezbollah.

“This is what they have informed us that they are currently conducting, which are limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists.

Israeli special forces have already conducted small-scale forays into southern Lebanon in recent days, in advance of a potential invasion, according to a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told mayors of northern cities on Monday afternoon that “the next phase of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon.”

“It will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important [mission] of returning the residents to their homes,” he said.

Gallant told infantry soldiers near the border that the killing on Friday of Nasrallah was “a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have.

“You are part of this effort. We trust you to be able to accomplish anything,” he told troops of the 188th Armored Brigade and Golani Infantry Brigade.

Hours later, the Israeli military said in a statement that Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin had recently approved tactical battle plans with officers who would be involved in a potential ground offensive.

Around 9 p.m., Lebanese security officials said troops had pulled back to at least five kilometers (some three miles) north of the border.

Amal Al-Hourani, mayor of Jdeidet Marjayoun, a Christian-majority Lebanese village less than 10 kilometers from the border, told Reuters that two locals had received calls, apparently from the Israeli army, telling them to evacuate the area as soon as possible.

On Friday, military sources told The Times of Israel a ground offensive in Lebanon was already planned out, in areas near the border, as well as deep within Lebanon. Still, officials have said the IDF aims for a ground operation to be as short as possible.

Once the fighting is over, sources said the IDF would need to enforce any ceasefire agreement with firepower and prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing itself close to Israeli border communities.

The potential ground offensive would come some two weeks into escalated fighting with the terror group. Earlier this month, thousands of Hezbollah’s communications devices exploded, reportedly taking some 1,500 fighters out of action, in an attack widely blamed on Israel.

Israel then engaged in days of targeted attacks, wiping out most of the Hezbollah’s leadership in repeated strikes, culminating in the IDF killing longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, when fighter jets dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on the group’s underground headquarters, located beneath residential buildings in a suburb of Beirut.

The United States announced Monday it was sending an additional “few thousand” troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary.

The increased presence will come from multiple fighter jet squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.

US President Joe Biden was asked by reporters on Monday whether he was aware of a potential Israeli incursion into Lebanon, and whether he was comfortable with such a plan.

“I am more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now,” he responded.

The Biden administration’s attempts to secure a ceasefire in recent weeks have failed, with neither side seemingly open to an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Kan news reported Monday that the White House has demanded from Israel that a potential ground incursion in Lebanon be limited and not see IDF troops hold territory for long stretches.

The Washington Post cited an unidentified US official as saying Israel had already told the US the operation would be smaller than its 2006 war against Hezbollah and focus on border security.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell echoed Biden’s sentiment on Monday, saying that any further Israeli operations in Lebanon must be avoided.

“The sovereignty of both Israel and Lebanon has to be guaranteed, and any further military intervention will dramatically aggravate the situation,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was also opposed to any ground offensive of Lebanon by Israel, his spokesman said.

“We do not want to see any sort of ground invasion,” Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a media briefing.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, in Lebanon, urged Israel “to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire.” Barrot also urged Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying it “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict” last year.

He expressed solidarity with the Lebanese people, saying they are “caught in a war [they] did not choose,” and said France will provide flights for any French nationals who want to leave Lebanon.

And a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that the UK’s support for Israel’s right to self-defense is “ironclad,” but that only a ceasefire can restore stability and security to the region.

Also raising concerns about a ground operation on Monday were relatives of some of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, kidnapped during the group’s cross-border onslaught on October 7, 2023, which started the ongoing war, including the fighting with Hezbollah.

Going into Lebanon “takes away from the hostages,” said Sharone Lifschitz, whose mother Yocheved was freed from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in November and whose father, Oded, is still being held.

“If there is a ground incursion, then they are telling us nothing will happen for two weeks or three weeks or five weeks,” Lifschitz said at a press conference in London after meeting with Starmer and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.