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Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/04/15/security-necessity-or-sinking-mire/
Israel's New Security Zone in Lebanon
(Israel Hayom) Shirit Avitan Cohen - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz outlined the IDF operation in Lebanon as including "the destruction of homes in the contact-line villages, the defensive positions line inside Lebanon, which was expanded from five to 15 points, the anti-tank line whose seizure was completed through the ground maneuver and is now being expanded at additional points, and the Litani line, where the IDF will maintain control." For residents in northern Israel, this is a security necessity rooted in the understanding that the IDF must separate civilians from their enemies. Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effi Eitam, who commanded forces in the previous security zone in Lebanon which existed in 1985-2000, said, "Israel had an efficient, effective security zone for many years. It was not a Lebanese mire. It was exactly what a country needs to do to protect its line of civilian communities." "Since we fled from there and announced that the war was over, we have been inside Lebanon twice. During the years of supposed quiet, Hizbullah was built up into a monstrous military force....To protect Metula, Misgav Am, Rosh Hanikra and Avivim, we need to be inside Lebanon up to the Litani line in order to prevent what Hizbullah's Radwan Force planned." Meir Ben-Shabbat, head of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, who served as head of Israel's National Security Council, said, "Before the withdrawal from Lebanon [in 2000], the public discourse focused on the price of our presence there. Today the public understands what people spoke less about back then: the price of our absence." "Control of a security zone is by no means a recipe for a static presence, nor is it a stand-alone component. Alongside it there must be sustained offensive interdiction activity that does not allow the enemy to entrench itself and forces it to direct its efforts toward survival rather than attacking us."