As IDF widens its ground campaign in southern Lebanon, senior Israeli minister calls to annex territory south of the Litani River and hints at partial Gaza annexation.
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Israeli government minister is calling for the annexation of southern Lebanon, as the IDF expands its campaign against the Hezbollah terror organization.
On Monday, Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionist Party, addressed faction members in the Knesset, discussing the Israeli ground operation against Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.
“The current war in Lebanon must end with a radical change, beyond the vanquishing of the terror group Hezbollah,” said Smotrich, whose son was wounded in a Hezbollah attack on IDF forces in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
Smotrich proposed seizing control of the entire area south of the Litani River and placing the territory under Israeli sovereignty.
The minister also hinted that Israel’s control over most of the Gaza Strip and the buffer zone between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights will be permanent.
“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.”
“We must not return to the October 6 situation, where the enemy is on our fences,” Smotrich continued.
“We’ll push [the enemy] away on all fronts and create a sterile security cordon that will separate the enemy from our citizens.”
Smotrich’s comments were immediately picked up by Arabic media outlets, including Al Jazeera.
Earlier this month, Defense Minister Israel Katz hinted that Israel may annex or maintain permanent control over parts of southern Lebanon.
Katz warned that if Beirut fails to uphold its obligation of disarming Hezbollah, the country could face the “loss of territory.”
After the IDF instructed residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate, the Israeli defense chief said that residents would not be permitted to return unless the threat to northern Israel is eliminated.