Israel Plans to Occupy Large Parts of Southern Lebanon
Residents who fled north of the river will be prohibited from returning to their homes indefinitely, the Israeli defense minister said.
The Israeli government said on Tuesday that it will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, marking a major escalation in the far-right government’s expansionist goals under the guise of self-defense.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces will control all remaining bridges and establish a so-called “security zone” up to the Litani River, which would amount to Israel occupying nearly 10% of Lebanon.
Katz said that the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents who fled north of the river will not be allowed to return to their homes “until security for the residents of the north is ensured.”
He also said Israeli forces will continue to destroy homes and buildings in southern Lebanon as they did in Gaza by implementing “the Rafah and Beit Hanoun models,” referring to two towns in the Strip that Israel completely decimated.
Hezbollah slammed the planned occupation as an “existential threat” to the Lebanese state and vowed to fight back.
Since March 2, when Israel ramped up its offensive in Lebanon, it has displaced more than 1.16 million people – over a quarter of the population – according to Lebanese officials. Israeli forces have killed at least 1,072 people, including more than 120 children, in Lebanon, per the country’s Health Ministry.
‘Greater Israel’
Tuesday’s escalation reflects a long-held aspiration endorsed by Benjamin Netanyahu known as “Greater Israel,” a plan to take over much of the region, including not only historic Palestine but also parts of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Ultranationalist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday said that Israel should move its border to the Litani River.
“The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon, just like the ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza and like the buffer zone and peak of the Hermon in Syria,” he said.
In late February, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he would support “anything that will allow the Jews a large, broad, strong land and a safe haven for us.”
“[T]he biblical borders of the land of Israel are clear,” Lapid said. “Therefore, the borders are the borders of the Bible.”
In an interview with alt-right commentator Tucker Carlson, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said, “It would be fine if they took it all,” referring to Israel conquering much of the Middle East.
Huckabee’s comments spurred international outrage, and several governments in the Middle East released a joint statement that condemned his remarks as “a flagrant violation of the principles of international law.”
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