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Defense Minister Katz: Israel Will Control Southern Lebanon up to the Litani, Border Villages Will Be Leveled
(i24News) Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that "at the end of the operation [in Lebanon], the IDF will be positioned in a security area inside Lebanon...and will have security control over the entire area up to the Litani [River]." He said the return of 600,000 displaced residents of southern Lebanon to areas south of the Litani would be "completely prohibited" until Israel determines that northern Israeli communities are safe. He added that houses in Lebanese villages near the border would be demolished "in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun models in Gaza" in order to eliminate threats near the border. Katz said Israeli forces are continuing ground operations in Lebanese villages. "The maneuvering forces are entering the villages with great force...clearing them of Hizbullah terrorists and destroying the terrorist infrastructures established there." "We are determined to separate Lebanon from the Iranian arena...and to uproot the snake's teeth and remove Hizbullah's threat capability," Katz said. "We promised to protect the communities of the north, and that is exactly what we will do."