Israel will not withdraw from south Lebanon 'as long as I am PM,' Netanyahu says

BEIRUT — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the army will not withdraw from its « security zone » in southern Lebanon while he remains in office.

He echoes his defense minister Israel Katz, who also rules out any withdrawal, even if requested by the United States.

"As long as I am prime minister, we will maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon," Netanyahu said, as quoted by the Israeli daily Haaretz.

The Israeli PM said that "Israel's greatest achievement in this war is overcoming fear," before asserting that his country would "be the first in the world to resolve the problem of explosive drones," referring to the suicide drones used by Hezbollah against Israeli troops.

Addressing the war in Gaza, Netanyahu also defended Israel's military strategy since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. "When we launched the campaign against Hamas, people told me: 'Prime Minister, stop, don't go into Rafah.' Today, we control nearly 70% of the Gaza Strip and are choking Hamas," he stated.

Katz rules out any withdrawal from southern Lebanon

Earlier, Katz also assured that Israel would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, "even if there were an American request to do so," and that the 200,000 displaced Lebanese residents "will not return" to their homes, according to remarks reported by Haaretz.

"We have announced that, in any case, we will not withdraw and, at this time — and this is a diplomatic success — there is no American requirement for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon," he also said, according to comments reported by AFP.

"We have made this clear — the prime minister to the president [Donald Trump], and I to [Pete] Hegseth, the secretary of war ... we are there to protect the residents of the north" of Israel.

"There will be neither civilians nor terrorists," Katz said. "Why? Because what happened in the past in security zones, where there was also a civilian population, were explosive devices and attacks against soldiers. Therefore, we are not allowing that. Soldiers inside, residents outside. The infrastructure is destroyed, the houses are dangerous and in ruins. We are not withdrawing."

"We have achieved important results that began with the terrible blow of Oct. 7," the defense minister continued. "Since then, all the people, the leaders and the army have acted with great determination. I don't know of any situation in which, without this terrible blow, anyone would have gone to deal with the tunnels in Gaza."

Katz also said that Israel would not withdraw from territories captured in Syria either. "This is our security doctrine. The Israeli army must be on the enemy's side and protect the communities from within the territory itself."