Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting IDF troops in southern Lebanon's buffer zone on Tuesday evening, told soldiers Israel will not withdraw as long as Hezbollah poses a threat, calling the ongoing deployment 'a punch in the face of the Iranian axis.'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited IDF troops in the southern Lebanon buffer zone again on Tuesday evening, telling soldiers that Israel's deployment there is 'a punch in the face of the Iranian axis' and that forces will not withdraw until the Hezbollah threat is gone. The remarks — confirmed by the Prime Minister's Office — came hours after he and Defense Minister Israel Katz had toured the same sector earlier Tuesday, when Netanyahu reported that some 9,000 Hezbollah operatives had been eliminated and that the group's pre-war rocket arsenal of 150,000 had been reduced to roughly 8 percent.
The evening visit is the latest in a sequence The Zioneer has covered since Tue 16:08 Jerusalem, when an unconfirmed single-source report first emerged of Netanyahu entering Lebanon. Within two hours, the visit was confirmed by Israeli sources and evolved into a substantive message to troops and the Iranian axis. By Tue 16:08 Jerusalem, the reporting had consolidated: Netanyahu had instructed soldiers to engage any threat without delay and had declared that as long as Hezbollah is armed, the IDF will stay. The visit itself had by then been cleared for publication, and later bulletins added the expanded figures on casualties and arsenal depletion.
Netanyahu's stance on the buffer zone has been reinforced in recent days. As The Zioneer reported on Mon Jun 15, 09:57 Jerusalem, Defense Minister Katz said Netanyahu had told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel will not withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement. Katz described those zones as among the IDF's greatest achievements. On Wed Jun 24, 04:03 Jerusalem, Trump said he would 'take a look' at Netanyahu's claim regarding the Lebanon deployment.
No official statement has addressed whether Tuesday evening's visit signals a shift in operational posture or a specific timeline for the deployment. The full sequence of Netanyahu's remarks across the two Tuesday visits — from 'act on any threat' to the 'punch in the face' language — has been reported from Israeli sources, but no independent verification of the claimed Hezbollah arsenal depletion or casualty figures has been provided by third-party observers.
9 developments
- StrongNetanyahu to Hezbollah and Iran from Lebanon: 'If you see a threat — act'
- DevelopingNetanyahu: Israeli forces are not leaving Lebanon
- StrongNetanyahu: IDF controls nearly 70% of Gaza Strip; vows no withdrawal from Lebanon buffer zone
- StrongNetanyahu: IDF to stay in southern Lebanon as long as needed; 300 Hezbollah targets struck in two days
Source and signal
- Internal intake