Destroyed buildings in Mais al-Jabal, southern Lebanon, on Nov. 25, 2024. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said on Tuesday during a visit along the border with Lebanon that “the Lebanese government must [...] allow the Lebanese Army” to keep Hezbollah away north of the Litani River, threatening to “no longer make a distinction” between the Shiite party and the Lebanese state should the war resume.
Katz warned that if Lebanon failed to do so, Israel would enforce the agreement with “maximum force and zero tolerance,” according to remarks reported in the Israeli media. He added that Hezbollah's recent mortar fire on “Mount Dov,” the Israeli name for the disputed Shebaa Farms, was a test of Israel's resolve, which had “retaliated with force.” The Israeli air force had carried out a series of bombardments on several regions in southern Lebanon, killing 10 people.
The Defense Minister further threatened that if the Lebanese Army “under American supervision” did not dismantle Hezbollah's “terrorist infrastructure,” “the whole agreement will collapse.” “If we return to war, we will act with force, we will go further” into Lebanese territory and, "above all, we will no longer spare the Lebanese state." Katz warned, “If until now we have separated the state from Hezbollah and Beirut from the southern suburbs, this will no longer be the case” if the war resumes.
The party had announced that it had fired shells on Monday evening at the Roueissat al-Alam site in the disputed Kfar Shuba hills, adjacent to the Shebaa Farms. According to a party statement, the attack came “in response to repeated violations” of the cease-fire agreement by Israel. Since Nov. 27, the Israeli army has carried out dozens of attacks on Lebanese territory, killing at least 13 people, not to mention repeated overflights.