TEL AVIV/BEIRUT, March 24 (Reuters) – Israel will occupy south Lebanon up to the Litani River to create a ‘defensive protection’, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, spelling out for the first time Israel’s intention to seize territory equivalent to almost a tenth of Lebanon.
In a meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Katz stated that Israeli forces will ‘control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani’, a river that meets the Mediterranean about 30 km north of Israel’s border.
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has said it will fight to prevent Israeli troops from occupying southern Lebanon, calling such action an ‘existential threat’ to the Lebanese state.
Senior Hezbollah parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah declared that any Israeli occupation south of the Litani would be met with resistance. “We have no choice but to face this aggression and cling to the land,” he told Reuters.
Israel has destroyed five bridges over the river since March 13 and accelerated the demolition of homes in Lebanese villages near the border, as part of what it says is a campaign against Hezbollah and not civilians. Under international law, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including homes and bridges, are generally prohibited.
Katz has already warned the Lebanese government that it would lose territory if it failed to disarm Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed militant group that drew Lebanon into the US and Israeli war against Iran when it fired on Israel on March 2.
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The Israeli Armed Forces declined to comment on Katz’s statements. Previously, the military had said ground troops were carrying out limited, targeted attacks near the border. Israel has repeatedly invaded Lebanon in recent decades and occupied the south of the country until 2000.
