Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited southern Lebanon on Tuesday, addressing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops occupying the territory as part of a campaign against the Iranian proxy terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Israel has been engaging in military operations throughout much of Lebanon – including airstrikes in Beirut – since February, when President Donald Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran. Israeli officials insist that eradicating Hezbollah elements from southern Lebanon is a critical national security operation for the country, as the jihadist terror group poses a threat to communities in northern Israel that recalls the presence of Hamas in Gaza, which allowed the terrorists to invade Israel to execute the October 7, 2023, massacres.
Visiting Israeli troops in Lebanon on Tuesday, Netanyahu insisted Israel would maintain a long-term military presence in the country so long as Hezbollah continued to exist.
“We will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat has been eliminated. And as long as Hezbollah remains here, armed and threatening us, we will remain here as well,” Netanyahu told IDF soldiers, according to the Times of Israel.
The prime minister instructed the soldiers to act immediately “if you identify a threat to your security, to your lives, or to the lives of your soldiers.”
“We are telling both Iran and Hezbollah: ‘Leave this place. You have no business being here.’ … This is a slap in the face, a punch in the face of the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu declared.
In remarks following his visit to the neighboring country on Israeli television on Tuesday night, Netanyahu reiterated that the Israeli military will continue to operate to “deal with the remnants of the Iranian axis and seize opportunities for peace agreements.” He also celebrated ongoing communications with the Lebanese government to cooperate against Hezbollah.
The Trump administration and what is left of the Iranian Islamist regime have been engaging in negotiations to end hostilities since a ceasefire was announced in April. Iranian officials have repeatedly insisted that they would not accept any agreement that did not also include an end to Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, citing the displacement of upwards of 1 million people in the country, which include entire Christian villages near the border. In mid-June, Washington and Tehran signed a “memorandum of understanding” to stop military attacks that included a provision stating Israel should end its operations in Lebanon, which Israeli officials have repeatedly refused to do.
Rather than adhere to that agreement, the Israelis signed a separate peace deal – brokered with American help – with the government of Lebanon, which has consistently demanded that Israel stop capturing its sovereign territory. The two governments announced on Friday that they had signed a “security framework” that would plan out the steps necessary to see an end to Hezbollah and the exit of Israeli troops from Lebanese land in the long term. The deal carves out two “pilot zones” where Israel will continue to control Lebanese land, but the Lebanese military will eventually also deploy there to protect it from Hezbollah capture. Following the signing of the agreement, Netanyahu celebrated it as a “major blow to Iran,” as it allows for Beirut-Jerusalem negotiations about Lebanon without direct Iranian intervention.
“This is also a major blow to Iran,” Netanyahu explained. “Iran is trying to coax us to withdraw from southern Lebanon by force. And in essence, Israel, Lebanon and the United States are telling Iran — ‘It is none of your business. You have no role in Lebanon. Neither you, nor Hezbollah nor any terrorist organization.’”
During his address to IDF soldiers in Lebanon on Tuesday, Netanyahu credited the soldiers for helping create a space for such a deal.
“As a result of your actions here, Lebanon recognizes Israel, Israel recognizes Lebanon,” he told them.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that the Israeli government was not yet allowing for Lebanon to regain control of the “pilot zones” in the peace agreement. According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the Israel-Lebanon peace deal will now require a “joint monitoring mechanism” to ensure that Hezbollah does not return to the areas in question and improves communication and cooperation between the Lebanese and Israeli militaries. This “mechanism” will also work to dismantle existing Hezbollah infrastructure in the “pilot zones” such as tunnels, weapons stockpiles, and missile silos.
Netanyahu’s administration has repeatedly insisted that it would not withdraw from Lebanon in the immediate future. Shortly before the announcement of the Lebanese-Israeli security agreement, Defense Minister Israel Katz proclaimed that Israel would exile 20,000 civilians from their homes in Lebanon, taken to be used as Israeli “buffer zones” to prevent Hezbollah attacks. Katz emphasized that Israel would not back off from its presence in these areas “even if there is an American demand.”
“As long as I am prime minister, we will maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu said a week ago, reaffirming Katz’s assertions.
President Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with the Israeli government’s heavy-handed approach to Lebanon. Speaking at the G7 summit in France in June, Trump mused that the government of Syria – led by former al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa – could have conducted a more competent anti-Hezbollah operation than Netanyahu.
“Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed,” Trump was quoted as saying. “And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody. Because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses. And they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.
“I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah,” he continued. “I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah. Because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it.”