Tel Aviv, Israel – Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz reaffirmed on Tuesday his country’s firm strategy toward the northern front. He emphasized that disarming Hezbollah is a non-negotiable objective, explaining that it will be achieved through an intensive “combination of military and diplomatic means.”
Integration of military and diplomatic pressure
Israeli media quoted Katz as saying that the current phase is witnessing unprecedented “diplomatic and military pressure.” This pressure aims to undermine Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
The minister explained that the Israeli army’s field operations provide the necessary leverage for diplomacy. As a result, conditions can be imposed to ensure the removal of heavy weapons and military infrastructure from the border area, which threaten Israel’s security.
Threat of a “Gaza model” in Lebanon
In an escalating tone, Katz issued a direct threat to the residents and villages of southern Lebanon. He asserted that the fate of those areas “will be like Rafah and Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip” should diplomatic efforts fail to reach an agreement for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
This threat is a practical manifestation of the scorched-earth policy that Israel has repeatedly brandished. This policy aims to ensure that threats do not return to its northern border.
A history of threats of destruction
Katz’s remarks today are the latest in a series of harsh threats he has issued since last March. At that time, he vowed to destroy all homes in Lebanese villages bordering Israel.
He also stressed that Israel would not allow some 600,000 displaced Lebanese to return to their homes before a new security reality was established. This reality, he asserted, would guarantee the absolute protection of northern Israeli towns. Observers believe that Katz’s repeated references to the destruction of the Gaza Strip as a model for what might befall southern Lebanon are intended to exert maximum psychological and military pressure on the Lebanese state and Hezbollah’s allies to force them to accept harsh border security arrangements. He also warned that military force would be the readily available alternative should negotiations fail.
