Israeli Defence Minister announces a long-term military occupation of southern Lebanon after the war, as strikes continue on Beirut.

BEIRUT: Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz declared on Tuesday that the military would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the end of the war against Hezbollah.

His statement came as Israeli warplanes carried out fresh strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a long-time bastion of the Iran-backed militant group.

Katz’s announcement was the clearest Israeli declaration of intent to occupy parts of southern Lebanon since the Middle East war spread there on March 2.

The Israeli military confirmed it had “begun to strike Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Beirut” and renewed strikes across Lebanon, particularly the south.

Israeli troops have also been carrying out ground incursions in border areas.

“At the end of the operation, the IDF will establish itself in a security zone inside Lebanon, on a defensive line against anti-tank missiles, and will maintain security control over the entire area up to the Litani,” Katz said in a video statement.

He was referring to a river that flows around 30 kilometres from the border.

Katz added that the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese would be “completely prevented” until northern Israel’s security was ensured.

He also stated that “all the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza”.

Israeli forces devastated those areas during their two-year war against Hamas in Gaza.

Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities began, with more than one million others displaced.

Human Rights Watch recently wrote to Katz to express “grave concerns about recent statements made by Israeli officials that undermine respect for international humanitarian law”.

The organisation cited comments made by Katz on March 16 in which he threatened to prevent the return of people who had fled the region south of the Litani.

“Using the denial of civilian return as a bargaining tool constitutes forced displacement, which is prohibited under the laws of war and a possible war crime,” HRW said.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists that since the start of the war, Hezbollah had fired “somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 rockets, UAVs and missiles, and mortars… towards Israel”.

Hezbollah has been announcing daily that it has targeted Israeli sites and forces, or engaged in direct clashes with them in border towns.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said on Monday that two of its personnel were killed in southern Lebanon in the second deadly incident in 24 hours.

The EU on Tuesday demanded an investigation into the attacks on peacekeepers, which its spokesman Anouar El Anouni said were “totally unacceptable”.

 The Sun Malaysia