Netanyahu, Katz tell troops IDF will stay in Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remains a threat

Netanyahu: “These security zones represent a change in our approach. It means we will not allow an army of terrorists to sit on our border.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the security zone in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, accompanied by Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, and reaffirmed that Israel will not depart from security positions in Lebanon until the threat from Hezbollah to northern communities has passed.

Speaking with soldiers, Netanyahu said: “We insist that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat has been eliminated. As long as Hezbollah is here, armed and threatening us, we will remain here.”

He added: “Thanks to your actions here, Lebanon recognizes Israel and vice versa. We are telling both Iran and Hezbollah: Leave. There are two sovereign states that want to make peace with one another and restore a reality of security and prosperity for the residents of northern Israel—and for the people of Lebanon as well.”

Netanyahu continued: “These security zones represent a change in our approach. It means we will not allow an army of terrorists to sit on our border.”

He also emphasized the operational directives given to the troops.

“Our instruction—mine, the defense minister’s, the chief of staff’s, and the deputy chief of staff’s—is first and foremost that you protect yourselves,” Netanyahu said. “If you identify a threat to your security, to your lives, or to the lives of your fellow soldiers—act. Don’t wait; act. That is a standing order.”

On Saturday, one day after the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon was signed, Defense Minister Katz described it as “a historic event and an important diplomatic and security achievement.”

According to Katz, the agreement could shape a new and safer reality along Israel’s northern border after decades of conflict.

“Israel has not withdrawn from Lebanon and continues to maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon, including the Beaufort Ridge,” Katz declared.

He also set a condition for implementing the agreement: “There will be no redeployment by Israel in southern Lebanon and no withdrawal whatsoever as long as Hezbollah has not been disarmed throughout Lebanon.”

Katz further said the agreement represents a strategic blow to the Iranian axis.

“Iran tried to force Israel to withdraw from Lebanon through threats and pressure on the United States, and it failed,” he said, adding a warning: “If Iran attempts to attack Israel in order to prevent the implementation of the agreement, we will act against it with great force.