Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israeli forces will maintain security control in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River once the campaign ends, outlining an expansive postwar plan as fighting with Hezbollah continued across the border.
Speaking after a security assessment with senior military officials, Katz said the IDF would “stabilize in a security zone inside Lebanon” and “control the entire area up to the Litani.”
He said more than 600,000 displaced residents of southern Lebanon would be barred from returning south of the river until the safety of northern Israeli communities is assured, and said homes in Lebanese border villages would be demolished under what he described as a model similar to Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza.
Katz said Israel was determined to separate Lebanon from ongoing fighting in Iran, strip Hezbollah of its ability to threaten Israel and permanently change the security situation in Lebanon through an Israeli military presence “in the required places,” with strict enforcement and deterrence.
His remarks amounted to Israel’s clearest statement yet that it intends to hold a broad swath of southern Lebanon as a buffer zone reaching roughly 30 kilometers, or 20 miles, north of the border in some places.
The comments came amid a widening Israeli campaign in southern Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Israel launched a new offensive this month and has said it intends to seize territory up to the Litani River, raising fears in Lebanon of a prolonged occupation reminiscent of Israel’s presence in the south before its withdrawal in 2000.
Katz has also said Israeli forces struck bridges over the Litani to prevent Hezbollah from using Lebanese state infrastructure to move weapons south, part of a broader effort to sever the group’s access and deepen Israeli control over the area. Lebanese officials and international organizations have voiced alarm over the impact of the campaign, which has reportedly killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.
The announcement came hours after the IDF said four soldiers from the Nahal Reconnaissance Battalion were killed in combat in southern Lebanon. They were identified as Capt. Noam Madmoni, 22, of Sderot, a team commander; Staff Sgt. Ben Cohen, 21, of Lehavim; Staff Sgt. Maxsim Entis, 21, of Bat Yam; and Staff Sgt. Gilad Harel, 21, of Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut. They were killed in a clash with Hezbollah terrorists in the western sector of southern Lebanon near the village of Beit Lif.