Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the security zone in southern Lebanon on Tuesday together with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, National Security Council Director Shmuel Ben Ezra, and Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Guy Markizano.
During the visit, Netanyahu and Katz received an operational briefing from Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, the commander of the 91st Division, and brigade commanders operating in the area. They were also presented with a demonstration of new weapons systems and capabilities designed to counter the drone threat.
Addressing the troops, Netanyahu said: "I came here together with the Defense Minister, the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Northern Command commander, and your commanders, with whom I have spoken-the division commander and the brigade commanders-and I salute you. You have done an extraordinary job here. What we have done is take the Iranian axis and begin to crush it. We struck Iran itself, something no one believed could be done, and removed an existential threat."
Netanyahu added: "The most important link in the Iranian axis was here-Hezbollah. They had 150,000 missiles and rockets, the densest concentration of missiles and rockets anywhere on Earth. Today they have about 8% of that left. It is still significant, but it is no longer what it was. Through your actions, we have eliminated 9,000 terrorists, including hundreds in recent weeks. And, of course, the main thing we have done-and what you are doing here-is creating buffer zones, security zones, not on our side of the border, but on theirs. We are doing this in Lebanon. We did it in Gaza."
He continued: "These security zones represent a change in doctrine. It means we do not allow a terrorist army to sit on our border. We push them back-that is what you are doing. And we are destroying everything above and below ground that served as an offensive infrastructure against us: infiltration routes, attack positions, terror tunnels, terror villages-all of it is being eliminated. That is the directive: leave nothing behind, and you are carrying it out."
The Prime Minister went on to stress the freedom of action granted to forces in the field.
"I think the most important thing for you to know is that our directive-mine, the Defense Minister's, the Chief of Staff's, and the Deputy Chief of Staff's-is first and foremost: protect yourselves. If you identify a threat to your security, to your lives, to the lives of your soldiers-act. Don't wait. Act. That is an ironclad directive."
Netanyahu also addressed the broader situation in Lebanon.
"Thanks to your actions here, Lebanon recognizes Israel, Israel recognizes Lebanon, and we are telling both Iran and Hezbollah: Get out of here. You have no place here. There are two sovereign states that want to make peace with one another and truly restore security and prosperity to the residents of northern Israel and to the people of Lebanon as well. 'You need to leave.' This is a slap in the face-a punch in the face-to the Iranian axis, and it will not necessarily pass quietly."
He concluded with a message regarding Israel's continued military presence in the area.
"We are extremely proud of what we have achieved thanks to your courageous actions and the decisions we have made. We insist that we will not leave southern Lebanon until the threat has been eliminated. As long as an armed Hezbollah remains here and threatens us-we will remain here."
