Israel defence minister hails capture of Hezbollah highland in Lebanon
JERUSALEM, Sept 4 — Israel’s defence minister today hailed the capture of a strategic highland from Hezbollah as solidifying Israel’s “security zone” in Lebanon and vowed that troops would not leave it.
“The capture of the Ali Tahar ridge marks the completion of the phase of securing control in the security zone in southern Lebanon,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Israel says that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia group originally founded to fight an earlier Israeli invasion, used the strategic high point to fire at Israeli targets and had constructed there a vast network of tunnels housing a command structure.
The Israeli military “will now complete the neutralisation of the tunnels and prepare in the appropriate tactical manner to hold the ridge and prevent the enemy from re-establishing itself in the area”, Katz said.
He said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces close-fought elections on October 27, will pursue a “clear and uncompromising line” on Lebanon.
“Israel will not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed throughout Lebanon and the threats over the residents of the Galilee are removed,” Katz said, referring to Israel’s northern region.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since early March when the militant group dragged Lebanon into the wider Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel has since carried out a massive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed more than 4,300 people, according to Lebanese authorities.
The conflict has calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s government agreed in June, but the deal between Tehran and Washington has been shaky, with US forces this week resuming attacks on Iran.
