The government reduced the intensity at the request of the United States, although it promised to respond to any Lebanese offensive.
The minister maintained that Israel will not accept a situation where residents of Beirut live normally while Israeli towns continue to be targeted by attacks. “We will not accept that they sleep peacefully in Beirut while Israeli communities suffer rocket and drone attacks”, he declared.
As part of this strategy, Israeli authorities issued extensive evacuation warnings for the inhabitants of Dahieh, considered Hezbollah's main political and military stronghold in the Lebanese capital. Katz assured that of the approximately 950,000 regular residents of the area, about 600,000 had already left the zone.
The Israeli warning comes at a time when hostilities on the northern border continue to escalate. Katz made it clear that, from the Israeli perspective, there is currently no effective ceasefire in Lebanon and that military operations continue to be carried out with full intensity.
The minister also outlined the strategic objectives of the campaign. In the short term, Israel seeks the total demilitarization of the area between the positions currently controlled by the Israeli army and the Litani River. In the long term, he stated, the goal remains the complete disarmament of Hezbollah, a goal that Jerusalem considers essential to ensure the security of its border communities.
The Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, issued one of the strongest warnings since the beginning of the current escalation on the northern front, stating that the southern suburbs of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah could face a military campaign similar to what Israeli communities near the border have suffered if rocket and drone attacks against Israeli territory continue.
During the Annual Defense Exports Conference, which brought together top officials from the Ministry of Defense and executives from the Israeli military industry, Katz explained that Israel had so far moderated its operations in the Lebanese capital at the request of the United States.
According to the minister, Washington requested to avoid large-scale attacks against Hezbollah's stronghold in the Shiite suburb of Dahieh while U.S. negotiations with Iran were ongoing. “At the request of the United States, the Israel Defense Forces refrained from carrying out powerful attacks against Beirut until yesterday, except for targeted eliminations”, he stated.
However, Katz indicated that this policy has begun to change. He revealed that, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he approved a plan coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces aimed at establishing a new strategic equation: “The fate of Dahieh will be the same as that of the communities in northern Israel”.
