Lebanon’s turn? Israel plans to use Gaza tactics for ‘buffer zone’

Beirut: As Israel trades fire with Hezbollah, calls for mass evacuations and sends ground troops deeper into Lebanon, its leaders have hinted at a long-term occupation modelled on the devastating conquest of much of Gaza after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to establish a zone of control in the depopulated south to shield its own northern communities, which have faced daily rocket attacks since the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group joined the wider war.

Many in Lebanon fear that could mean the open-ended displacement of over a million people, the flattening of their homes and a loss of territory.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said this week that it would create a “security zone” up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the border in some places.

He said troops would destroy homes, which he claimed were being used by militants, and that residents would not return until northern Israel is safe.

The campaign would mirror the one in Gaza, in which Israeli forces flattened and largely depopulated the eastern half of the Palestinian territory, Katz said on Tuesday. Israel has said it won’t withdraw from the enclave until Hamas disarms as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal. “We have ordered an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages to neutralise threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,” Katz said, referring to border towns that were largely

obliterated.