Jerusalem – March 2026 Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced today that the IDF has initiated a ground maneuver in southern Lebanon to neutralize immediate threats and safeguard residents of the Galilee and northern Israel. The operation targets Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in border-adjacent villages, mirroring tactics previously used against Hamas in Gaza (Rafah and Beit Hanoun) and ongoing efforts to destroy terror tunnels.

Katz emphasized that hundreds of thousands of Shiite residents who have evacuated southern Lebanon and Beirut will not be permitted to return south of the Litani River until Israel’s northern communities are fully secure. He sharply criticized Hezbollah’s acting leader Naim Qassem, stating: “Naim Qassem, who boasts and tells the IDF ‘please come,’ hides underground while turning more than a million Shiites of his sect into refugees in their own country.”

The minister reiterated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he have directed the IDF to dismantle Hezbollah’s capabilities and prevent its return to the area. “Those who seek to destroy will themselves be destroyed,” Katz declared, warning that Hezbollah would face severe consequences for its aggression as part of Iran’s “axis of evil.” He concluded with a pointed message: “If Naim Qassem misses Nasrallah and Khamenei so much — he will soon meet them in the depths of hell along with all the eliminated members of the axis of evil.”