Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Sunday during a visit to Israel’s northern border that the IDF will create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to protect residents who return to northern Israel.
“The first line of villages contains Hezbollah military targets where thousands of weapons and missiles are stored and where there are hundreds of tunnels. These [military targets] will be destroyed, and even once IDF troops withdraw, we will not allow Hezbollah terrorists to return to these areas,” Gallant said.
Gallant made the remark during a discussion with IDF reservists, which followed a tour and operational briefing at the northern front together with Commander of the IDF’s Division 91. The minister also received an overview of the division’s activities, with an emphasis on the progress made in ground operations aimed at locating and eliminating Hezbollah’s attack infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
Gallant emphasized the importance of creating the security conditions required to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.
“At this observation post we can see the entire first line of villages with Hezbollah infrastructure. These are military targets containing underground tunnels and weapon storages; our troops found hundreds of RPGs, munition and anti-tank missiles here. The IDF is currently destroying these means above and under the ground,” he went on.
“I have instructed the IDF at all levels to ensure the destruction of [attack infrastructure] and to ensure that terrorists may not return to these places. This is essential in order to ensure the safety of Israel’s northern communities,” he emphasized.
Terrorists and their infrastructure have been found in nearly every home in the dozens of southern Lebanese villages located along the border with northern Israel. Ensuring that terrorists may not return to these places means, in effect, the IDF will be tasked with creating a buffer zone in along the border in southern Israel to prevent the return of Hezbollah to the area.
“The IDF’s actions are powerful and effective – we are operating in the entire area. We have destroyed [attack] infrastructure in Beirut, in the Beka’a and across Lebanon, and now we are operating along the border. We will continue until operational requirements are achieved,” Gallant pledged.
