Israel plans 'Yellow Line' model in Lebanon by razing southern villages
The Israeli army is proposing to replicate its Gaza “Yellow Line” model in southern Lebanon by seizing territory and destroying entire villages.
In a briefing to Israeli media on Friday, military officials said disarming Hezbollah was not a realistic objective, and instead called for the creation of a “deep defensive line” inside Lebanese territory.
The plan would involve demolishing dozens of homes in frontline villages to establish a de facto demarcation line, similar to the one imposed in the Gaza Strip.
The “Yellow Line” in Gaza - a unilaterally drawn Israeli boundary - was initially intended as a temporary withdrawal line under a US-led ceasefire agreement signed in October. Later stages of the deal envisaged a full Israeli withdrawal and the disarmament of Hamas.
However, Israeli forces have since expanded the line, taking control of more than half of Gaza’s territory and establishing a permanent presence in those areas.
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In Friday’s briefing, army officials acknowledged the limits of their initial objectives of disarming Hezbollah, saying it “would require occupying all of Lebanon”.
The new plan, which is expected to be presented to political leaders, centres on the large-scale destruction of homes in villages near the boundary with Israel, with some exceptions reportedly made for Christian towns.
Officials said residents would not be allowed to return to areas identified as having hosted Hezbollah activity, even under future agreements.
The proposal comes as senior Israeli figures increasingly signal plans for a prolonged presence in southern Lebanon.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would seize additional territory and expand the so-called “buffer zone”. Defence Minister Israel Katz has also said the army intends to “control” southern Lebanon.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, calling for the border to be redrawn at the Litani River, around 30km north of the current boundary and a key link between southern Lebanon and the rest of the country.
“The current war in Lebanon must end with a radical change, beyond the defeat of Hezbollah,” Smotrich said. “The Litani must be our new border.”
Israel has never formally defined its borders with Lebanon, Syria or the Palestinian territories; instead, they are based on armistice lines drawn after the 1949 and 1967 wars.
Israeli leaders have in recent years increasingly expressed support for the idea of “Greater Israel”, which is often understood as a vision of territorial expansion to encompass Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, along with significant parts of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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