Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz have said that troops will maintain an indefinite presence in southern Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.
They were both speaking at a graduation for combat officers in southern Israel on Thursday.
“We dominate southern Lebanon, from the summit of the Beaufort, and we will remain as long as required in the security zone,” Netanyahu said. “We do not intend to withdraw from it.”
Katz said: “The Israeli military will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, in Syria and in Gaza without any time limit.”
He said that Israel opposed withdrawal from Lebanon “despite all the pressures that exist and those that are yet to come”.
“There is another important message, which I hope is clearly understood in Tehran: if Iran attacks Israel because of our activities in Lebanon, or for any other reason, we will strike it with full force in a way that will clearly demonstrate the gap in power between us,” the defence minister added.
Their comments come after Middle East Eye earlier this month revealed how Israel had built a line of military bases stretching through southern Lebanon and Syria, which appeared to suggest an intent to remain in territory seized since 2024.
On Friday, the Israeli military continued operations across southern Lebanon, with Lebanon’s National News Agency reporting that troops bulldozed and burned homes in the town of Markaba.
The report said that air strikes killed two people in Mayfadoun and wounded another, citing the country’s health ministry.
A separate strike was also reported in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
The Israeli military said four soldiers, including two officers, were injured during what it described as a close-quarters clash with a Hezbollah fighter in Beit Yahun. It said the fighter threw a grenade before being killed in an exchange of fire.
Israeli forces have killed at least 4,230 people in Lebanon since re-launching hostilities in early March, days after the US-Israeli war on Iran began.
Daily Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon have killed scores of people, despite a ceasefire having been agreed a week ago.
Meanwhile in Syria, Israel continues to occupy the strategic heights of Mount Hermon, which overlooks Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
Israeli forces seized that territory, which had been a UN buffer zone, as Bashar al-Assad’s government fell in December 2024.
It has not left the area since, and Israeli forces have also carried out more than 1,000 air strikes and 400 ground incursions, according to Syrian authorities.
Meanwhile, senior Israeli security officials met on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of expelling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite repeated previous failures to advance such plans, according to Haaretz.
‘Voluntary’ emigration
The Israeli daily reported that Shmuel Ben Ezra, head of the National Security Council, convened an urgent meeting with defence officials to discuss what was described as “encouraging voluntary emigration” from Gaza.
Officials from the Israeli army, Shin Bet and Mossad were among those invited.
During the meeting, Mossad representatives reportedly said the intelligence agency has not identified any country willing to accept Palestinians from Gaza.
Last month, Netanyahu ordered the army to occupy 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, in clear violation of an October ceasefire.
At the time the ceasefire came into effect, Israeli forces controlled around 53 percent of Gaza, including large areas in the north, south and east of the enclave.
Since then, the Israeli military has expanded its control to roughly 60 percent of the territory.
A further expansion to 70 percent would confine Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians to just 109 square kilometres of land.
Israel has killed more than 73,000 people since the genocide began in October 2023, and wounded more than 173,000 others.
Since the ceasefire was agreed in October last year, Israeli forces have killed at least 1,024 people in Gaza and wounded a further 3,260.
