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Israel will demolish all the houses in border villages in southern Lebanon as it plans to maintain “security control” over an area that will stretch dozens of kilometres into its neighbour’s territory, Israel’s defence minister said on Tuesday.
Israel Katz said the moves aimed “to change the situation in Lebanon once and for all”, and that at the end of the offensive, Israeli forces would hold a buffer zone that would extend deep enough to protect its northern towns from anti-tank missiles, which have a range of 8-10km.
They would also maintain security control of a larger area that would stretch as far north as the Litani river, which runs as much as 40km north of the border with Israel, he added.
“We are determined to separate Lebanon from the Iranian arena, to pull out the snake’s teeth, and remove the threat from Hizbollah,” Katz said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said more than 600,000 people displaced from southern Lebanon by the Israeli offensive would not be allowed to return to their homes until Israel had ensured “safety” for its northern towns.
“All houses in villages near the border in Lebanon will be demolished” in a manner similar to Israel’s razing of Gazan cities Rafah and Beit Hanoun during its offensive against Hamas, Katz added.
Israeli forces have been fighting in southern Lebanon since Iran-backed Hizbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel in retaliation for its killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month.
The offensive — to which Israel has committed troops from four divisions — has fuelled fears that it is preparing for a lasting occupation of Lebanese territory. It previously occupied a similar swath of southern Lebanon for 18 years, after invading the country in 1982.
Israeli officials have been vague about how deep inside Lebanon their forces are operating, but analysts said its offensive was moving faster and deeper than its incursion during the last round of hostilities in 2024. People familiar with the planning have previously said that the conflict with Hizbollah could outlast the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The Israeli military has already issued evacuation orders covering nearly 15 per cent of Lebanon, triggering the displacement of more than 1mn people. Hizbollah has reported clashes in areas as deep as 8km from the UN-demarcated informal border as Israeli troops move towards the Litani river.
On Tuesday, the Lebanese army withdrew from its posts in the predominantly Christian southern Lebanese villages of Rmeish and Ain Ebel, a military official told the FT.
The official said a US-led monitoring “mechanism” — which was established to oversee the implementation of a now-defunct ceasefire that ended the previous war — instructed the army that it had to evacuate, without providing details.
Lebanon’s armed forces have been caught in the middle of the war between Hizbollah and Israel, with three soldiers killed in Israeli strikes in the past week.
While much of the fighting is seemingly taking place in the Marjayoun area, along the eastern side of the southern border, Israeli forces were also advancing from the south into the Bint Jbeil and Sour districts, according to local media reports and an analysis of Hizbollah’s statements.
Hizbollah has said it has fired on Israeli positions in Qantara and Deir Seryan — villages about 8km from the border to the east. It has also engaged them on the other side of the country, along the coast, in Naqoura on the border and Bayada and Shamaa, which are about 6-8km into Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry has recorded more than 1,268 deaths during the fighting, including children, women and medical personnel and rescue workers. It does not otherwise distinguish between civilians and militants.
Israel’s army has said 10 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, while two civilians have also been killed by Hizbollah rocket fire.
Cartography by Janina Conboye