Netanyahu: IDF Will Remain in Lebanon Security Zone Until Hezbollah Threat Is Neutralized

Israel says withdrawal depends on Hezbollah disarmament as U.S.-backed framework deal faces resistance from terror group and allies

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will remain inside the Security Zone in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat to Israel, warning that the Iran-backed terror group will not be permitted to rebuild along Israel’s northern border.

Speaking during a visit to IDF soldiers deployed in the area, Netanyahu said Israel’s new security doctrine is clear: terrorist armies will no longer be allowed to sit directly on Israel’s borders.

“Our insistence is that we do not leave southern Lebanon until the threat is neutralized,” Netanyahu told the troops. “As long as Hezbollah is here, armed, threatening us, we will remain.”

Netanyahu was joined by Defense Minister Israel Katz, National Security Advisor Shmuel Ben-Ezra, IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Tamir Yadai, and other senior military officials. The prime minister received operational briefings from Northern Command and division commanders serving inside the Security Zone.

The visit came days after Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered framework agreement aimed at ending hostilities and restoring Lebanese sovereignty through the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups, including Hezbollah. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agreement establishes a process to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah, and dismantle its military infrastructure. (Reuters⁠)

Netanyahu praised the troops for what he described as a decisive blow against Iran’s regional axis, saying Hezbollah had been its most important military arm.

“The most important link in the Iranian axis was here — Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.

He said Hezbollah once possessed roughly 150,000 missiles and rockets, calling it “the densest concentration of missiles and rockets on Earth.” According to Netanyahu, only about 8 percent of that arsenal remains, though he warned that the threat is still significant.

Netanyahu also said Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed 9,000 terrorists, including hundreds in recent weeks, while dismantling above-ground and underground infrastructure designed to attack Israel.

“The main thing we did — and this is what you are doing here — is to create buffer zones, security zones, on their side of the border,” Netanyahu said. “We are doing this in Lebanon, just as we did it in Gaza.”

The prime minister emphasized that IDF soldiers have standing orders to act immediately if they identify a threat.

“If you identify a threat to your security, to your life, to your soldiers — act. Do not wait,” Netanyahu said. “Act — this is an ironclad instruction.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz separately said Israel has “no territorial ambitions in Lebanon,” but stressed that the IDF will not withdraw “a millimeter” until Hezbollah is disarmed. Katz said Israel’s position is anchored in the security annex to the framework agreement and understood by the United States. (The Times of Israel⁠)

The agreement has already drawn fierce opposition from Hezbollah and its allies. Hezbollah has rejected the U.S.-brokered security framework as a violation of the ceasefire and said it reserves the right to self-defense. The group’s leadership has also denounced the deal as a surrender to Israel. (Reuters⁠)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, however, told U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Bradley Cooper that Lebanon is committed to extending state authority through its armed forces all the way to the Israeli border. Cooper also met with Lebanon’s military chief Gen. Rodolphe Haykal to discuss implementation of the agreement’s security annex. (Asharq Al-Awsat⁠)

Israel has continued military operations against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The IDF said Monday that the Israeli Air Force struck three Hezbollah command centers in the Nabatieh and Mayfadoun areas in response to continued attacks on Israeli forces operating in the Security Zone. Troops also destroyed a Hezbollah rocket launcher.

The IDF said a reservist was seriously wounded Monday in an explosion during operations in the village of Arnoun. The cause of the blast remains under military investigation.

Israel has also recently destroyed major Hezbollah underground infrastructure in southern Lebanon, including a tunnel complex in the Majdal Zoun area containing weapons and launch silos. Israeli officials said the tunnel was built with Iranian assistance and posed a direct threat to Israeli civilians. (Reuters⁠)

Katz said more Hezbollah tunnels remain and vowed that Israel will continue demolishing the terror group’s underground network, including a major system beneath the Beaufort Ridge.

The defense minister also expressed skepticism that the Lebanese army would quickly confront Hezbollah, saying Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon is likely to be long term unless the terror group is disarmed.

Netanyahu said the framework agreement reflects a new reality created by Israel’s military achievements.

“Because of what your actions achieved, Lebanon recognizes Israel and Israel recognizes Lebanon,” Netanyahu told the soldiers. “We also say to Iran and to Hezbollah — leave. You have nothing to do here.”

For Israel’s northern communities, many of which endured months of Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks, the message from Jerusalem is unmistakable: Israel will not return to the failed policies that allowed an Iranian proxy army to dig in along its border.

The emerging diplomatic framework may offer Lebanon a path back to sovereignty, but only if Hezbollah is removed from the equation. Until then, Israel says its soldiers will remain where they are — standing between Hezbollah’s weapons and Israeli families.

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