Israeli troops will control a large swathe of southern Lebanon as part of their campaign against Hezbollah, Defence Minister Israel Katz says.
Katz said troops would establish a security zone up to the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border and displaced residents would not be allowed back until northern Israel was safe.
Five bridges used by Hezbollah for the passage of terrorists and weapons had been blown up, he said.
The latest escalation began after Iranian-backed Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader and near-daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite the November 2024 ceasefire.
Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry, including at least 118 children and 40 health workers. More than a million people have been displaced, which could lead to a major humanitarian crisis.
Israeli officials say the aim is to protect communities in northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks. Southern Lebanon is the heartland of Lebanon's Shia Muslim community, Hezbollah's main support base.
Lebanon's government has vowed to disarm Hezbollah, which was created in the 1980s in response to Israel's occupation of Lebanon during the 15-year Lebanese civil war. But, so far, the group has refused to discuss the future of its weapons.
In his briefing with defence chiefs on Tuesday, the Israeli defence minister said the Lebanese government had done nothing. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Katz said, was now manoeuvring into Lebanese territory to seize a front line of defence, eliminating Hezbollah terrorists and destroying the terrorist infrastructures that were established there, and the houses in the Lebanese border villages, which serve as terrorist outposts for all intents and purposes.
Katz added that their purpose would be to create a defensive space and keep the threat away - based on the model followed in Rafah and Beit Hanoun - major population centres in the Gaza Strip which have been largely destroyed by air strikes and remain under Israeli military control.
The thousands of Lebanese residents who have been displaced will not return south of the Litani River until security is guaranteed for the residents of the north of Israel, he said. The principle is clear: there is terror and missiles, no homes and no residents - and the IDF is inside.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has described the Israeli plans as a policy of collective punishment against civilians.
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