Jerusalem, Israel. Israel’s finance minister said on Monday that Israel should extend its border with Lebanon to the Litani River as Israeli forces bombed bridges and destroyed homes in southern Lebanon. The remarks were the clearest yet by a senior Israeli official on seizing Lebanese territory amid a campaign Israel says targets Hezbollah.
Call to change Israel’s border
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made the comments during an Israeli radio program, saying the military campaign in Lebanon “needs to end with a different reality entirely, both with the Hezbollah decision but also with the change of Israel’s borders.”
“I say here definitively…in every room and in every discussion, too: the new Israeli border must be the Litani,” Smotrich said.
Escalation in southern Lebanon
Lebanon was pulled into the regional war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel. Since then, Israel has ordered all residents to leave the area south of the Litani River as it carries out air strikes there, describing the area as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Lebanese authorities say the Israeli air and ground assault has killed more than 1,000 people, and more than a million have been driven from their homes, with Israel having ordered residents to flee swathes of the country.
Israeli government response and earlier warnings
Smotrich, the leader of a small far-right party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, often makes comments that go beyond official Israeli policy.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Smotrich’s remarks. Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier this month hinted at plans to capture land, saying Lebanon could face “loss of territory” if it did not disarm Hezbollah.
Reaction in Lebanon and historical context
Smotrich’s remarks drew attention in Lebanon, which is trying to emerge from a decades-old cycle of invasions and occupations by Israel. Israeli forces have launched repeated assaults on Lebanon since 1978 and occupied the south from 1982 to 2000.
How do you think Smotrich’s remarks could affect efforts to de-escalate the conflict between Israel and Lebanon?
