South Lebanon at risk of becoming the new Golan

Israel ordered Sour’s residents to leave the city as quickly as possible; it has systematically destroyed the bridges connecting the south of the river to the rest of the country; and it has advanced its ground incursion into Khiam, Taybeh, Bint Jbeil, and Qawzah. To all intents and purposes, Israel seems determined to carry out a full-blown ground offensive in the area south of the Litani River.Its objective is to occupy this part of Lebanon and turn it into a buffer zone protecting towns in northern Israel. The area could then be returned to the Lebanese only once Hezbollah is fully disarmed and a normalization agreement between Beirut and Tel Aviv is concluded.This situation is reminiscent of the Syrian Golan. At the end of the 1967 war, Israel seized this strategic, resource-rich Golan heights which allowed it to create a buffer...