Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border and 600,000 people who fled the south will not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure, the defence minister said on Tuesday, vowing to inflict Gaza-like destruction in the area.
Israel Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with the Iran-backed Hizbollah group ended.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced and another 1,200 have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an offensive against Hizbollah on March 2, ignited by the group’s decision to open fire in support of Tehran in the regional war.
The Litani River meets the Mediterranean about 30km north of Israel’s border, and the area between it and the Israeli border amounts to nearly a 10th of Lebanon’s territory.
The Israeli military earlier this month ordered residents to leave swathes of the south, the Hizbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the group’s political heartlands in eastern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s minister of social affairs Haneen Sayed said that Israel’s ground operation, which she described as a “land grab,” was deepening the risk that Lebanese would be stuck in long-term displacement.
Katz said Israeli forces would eliminate Hizbollah’s elite Radwan fighters who infiltrated the south and destroy all weapons.
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