Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told senior IDF commanders Monday that Lebanon has seen “tremendous achievements,” but said the campaign against Hezbollah is not over and that the military must solve two remaining threats: rockets and drones.
Netanyahu spoke at a conference of the IDF’s senior command staff, where his office said he delivered remarks and answered officers’ questions.
“In Lebanon, there have been tremendous achievements: eliminating the rocket array that threatened the entire country, creating a security zone that prevents the possibility of an invasion into the north and now also prevents direct anti-tank missile fire, but also allows us to change the situation in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.
He said Israel continues to strike in the security zone, north of it and beyond the Litani River.
“Our freedom of action to thwart threats — immediate threats and emerging threats — is the agreement we made with the U.S. and also with Lebanon’s government,” he said.
Netanyahu said he did not believe the task would be completed easily and added that “the job is not done.”
“There are still two main threats from Lebanon, from Hezbollah: the 122 mm rocket threat and the drone and UAV threat,” he said. “This requires a combination of operational activity and technological activity.”
Netanyahu said Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir were familiar with the issue and that a major technological effort was underway.
“If, through an operational and technological combination, we solve them, we are essentially on the way to disarming Hezbollah, because this is the main weapon they have,” Netanyahu said. “It has about 10% of the missiles it had at the start of the war. But they still disturb the residents of the north.”
Netanyahu praised northern residents for their resilience and told commanders that the two threats must be addressed before a diplomatic solution can advance.
“What I expect from you is to solve these two problems, because I think we will be able to solve the diplomatic side if we solve this,” he said.
First published: 19:43, 04.27.26