Does the IDF intend to return to its policy of a security strip in southern Lebanon? "The primary effort is to create a security strip that will be in our control in the absence of a multinational force to take control over the border, or more accurately, in the absence of a multinational force with the power to enforce," said Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, on Tuesday afternoon, during a visit to IDF Northern Command.
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"We will exercise military control against anyone nearing the strip; anyone approaching it will know that he is in danger of harm," he elaborated. Peretz also mentioned the security strip in his Tuesday morning meeting with US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
Peretz did not elaborate on the desired width of the security strip and stated that it would be determined according to different parameters in the field. The defense minister spoke of the IDF forces' current activities against Hizbullah forces in various sites among the organization's strongholds. These operations "serve to promote the formation of a security strip, but also illustrate to Hizbullah that IDF forces can get anywhere," he explained.
According to Peretz, the defense establishment is formulating the requisite characteristics of the security strip – it cannot be designed merely as a solid stripe along the border. He added that every point in the strip would conform to the geographic structure in that area and the subsequent defense capabilities.
'HIzbullah built fortresses'
The defense minister emphasized that, in the past six years, Hizbullah operatives built fortifications that, in the current effort to create a security strip, are being demolished by the IDF. "Anyone who sees or hears of what is inside these fortifications understands that Hizbullah wasn't building hotels and tourist sites, as we were doing during these six years. They were busy building fortresses and strongholds that would allow them to attack Israel."
Peretz, who visited an artillery battalion in the north, was warmly received. Battery commander, Capt. Ohad Gabbay, spoke with Peretz and IDF Deputy Chief of General Staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, who was also present. In recent days, he and his soldiers have fired hundreds of munitions shells at southern Lebanon, both as part of efforts to hit Hizbullah rocket launch sites and to aid IDF forces operating in southern Lebanon.
"It's hard work and we're not getting much sleep. It's hot and exhausting, but we understand that we are protecting the country," said Gabbay. The battalion commander, Gabbay's superior, said that the battery's range of operations in the current conflict is larger than any in recent years and stated that it is already possible to see the impact of these operations.
Peretz, who was photographed alongside an artillery cannon, told the soldiers that it is crucial to transform the situation in the north and that this objective connects civilians and soldiers. According to him, a number of Katyusha launching cells have abandoned their posts in order to avoid the artillery fire.
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