Apr 01, 2026
3 min read
Defense Minister Israel Katz explained in detail how the defense forces will invade southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, as well as Gaza, which represents eight percent of Lebanon's territory.
Israel to demolish houses to create 'security zone' in southern Lebanon on 'Gaza model'
- The defense minister explains how the army will attack southern Lebanon after the war against Hezbollah is over
- Its goal is to bring the south of the country up to the Litani River, which represents 8% of Lebanon's territory.
Israel announced on Tuesday its intention to invade the border region of southern Lebanon and establish a "safe zone", which would mean demolishing all the houses and forcing the 600,000 Laotian Lebanese who live in the area to move "like the Gaza model".Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed this after a meeting with the country's security establishment.
In a video published by his office, Katz explains that once the operation against the Shiite Hezbollah group has ended, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will be "positioned in a security zone in Lebanon, on the defense line against anti-tank missiles, and will have security control in the entire area up to the Litani River."This river is located about 30 kilometers north of the border between Israel and Lebanon, which represents about 8% of the country's territory.This implies that they also prevent the return to these cities of more than 600,000 inhabitants of southern Lebanon who evacuated to the north, "as long as the security of the residents of the north" of Israel is guaranteed.
In response to Katz's message, Lebanon's Defense Minister Michael Menasa called the announcement an "unprecedented violation of sovereignty" and said he would never accept a ban on the return of displaced people from the region.Moreover, he proposed a ‘repetition of the Gaza model’, symbolizing ‘atrocity crimes’ that Lebanon would never acknowledge.“Any attempt to establish a security zone on the territory of Lebanon would be an act of aggression against the territory and national sovereignty,” he said.
Same "process" as in Gaza.
The minister explains that houses in border towns will be demolished to "eliminate threats near the border to northerners once and for all", according to the Gaza model of operations in the cities of Rafah in the far south;and Beit Hanoun, in the extreme north.Both cities have been devastated by Israel since it began its destruction of the Gaza Strip in 2023 and currently remain under its military control, with their populations displaced.
The reason for the invasion was to "eliminate the threat posed by Hezbollah and change the security situation in Lebanon," says Katz.However, almost a month of Israeli military offensives, air and ground attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 1,260 people, most of them children, injured 3,750, and displaced more than a million.
In addition to internal displacement, more than 200,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria since the outbreak of the new war between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday. The majority (about 180,000 people) are Syrian citizens who sought refuge in Lebanon because of the war in Syria and are now forced to migrate again.
The rest are about 28,000 Lebanese who crossed the border into neighboring countries, fleeing Israeli bombardment.UNHCR is calling for more support as it currently has only 30% of the funding needed for operations in Syria, which remain active after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.
In addition to the Gaza issue, Katz has cited the example of Israel's occupation of Syria, where Israel has also crossed the UN-controlled Golan Heights and advanced towards parts of the Quneitra region, leaving it largely destroyed and abandoned.
Litani River and Blue Line, highlights
Conflicts and exchanges of fire over this area, between Lebanon and Israel, have been going on for many years.Following the 1978 Israeli military offensive in southern Lebanon, in response to an attack attributed to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the UN created the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), with the aim of asserting effective control of the Lebanese government.For this reason, in 2000, he established the so-called Blue Line, which marked the border between Israel and, therefore, the line of retreat of the two armies of Israel and Lebanon.From the strong position of Hezbollah, another piece on the Lebanese chessboard, FINUL called its elimination a goal.
The Laitani River, a current objective of the Israeli army inside Lebanon, is a key strategic point, as it marks the border of the area in which UNIFIL and the 2006 United Nations Security Council Resolution should have no military presence outside of the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL itself.Hizbullah to withdraw north of Litani River
Israel has accused Hezbollah of being behind the deaths of the Blue Helmets
In the context of this war between the two forces, UNIFIL maintains its peace process, which leads to the presence of the Blue Helmets on Lebanese territory.Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Tuesday blamed Hezbollah for the attack that killed two peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Monday: "Regarding the attack that took place yesterday, March 30, we can now confirm that the security forces were hit by Hizbollah explosives," Danon told the media outside the Security Council.However, the secretary general of the organization, Antonio Guterres, still believes that this "explosion is of unknown origin."
Israeli army spokeswoman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday that the attack on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon "is to push the enemy north and eliminate the threat in the region."It says the IDF attacked more than 2,500 people in Lebanon and that another 900 Hezbollah soldiers were killed.Likewise, he lamented the death of four Israeli soldiers in the last 24 hours.
