Katz Threatens Beirut Strikes, Wider Lebanon Occupation if Attacked
In a post on the US social media platform X, Katz said Israel could push its occupation deeper into the Nabatieh and Litani areas if Lebanon’s Hezbollah joins an Iranian attack. He said residents of any newly captured territory would be evacuated, and the land would be permanently folded into what Israel calls its security zone in Lebanon.
Katz also ruled out any Israeli pullback from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed across the entire country.
He laid out the scale of the destruction, saying Israeli forces had razed more than 60 Lebanese villages comprising 23,000 homes, which he claimed Hezbollah had used for military purposes. He further claimed Israel had carved out a 700-square-kilometer security zone inside Lebanon and displaced roughly 200,000 residents.
The threats came as Lebanese and Israeli military delegations held US-mediated talks at the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday.
Israel has been attacking Lebanon since March 2, killing and wounding thousands and displacing more than 1.5 million people.
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel signed a US-sponsored framework agreement calling for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, the deployment of the Lebanese army and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Israel has nonetheless kept up its attacks on southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces also remain in Lebanese territory, including areas held for decades and others seized in more recent wars and military operations.
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