Israel’s military to occupy swathe of southern Lebanon amid widening war

Israel will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, an area Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday described as a “security zone”, spelling out for the first time Israel’s intent to seize territory amounting to nearly a 10th of the country.

At a meeting with the military chief of staff, Katz said Israeli forces would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani,” a river that meets the Mediterranean about 30km (20 miles) ‌north of Israel’s border.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah said it would fight to prevent Israeli troops from occupying the south, calling such a move an “existential threat” to the Lebanese state.

Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said any Israeli occupation south of the Litani would be met with resistance. “We have no choice but to confront this aggression and cling to the land,” he said.

Katz has previously warned Lebanon’s government it could lose territory if it failed to disarm Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the US-Israeli war on Iran when it fired into Israel on March 2.