JERUSALEM, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military on Sunday to widen what Israel refers to as a "security buffer zone" in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive.
"We are determined to change the situation in the north fundamentally," Netanyahu said in a video statement from the Northern Command base near the Lebanese border.
Israel uses the term to describe an area seized by its troops inside Lebanese territory, a designation not recognized internationally or by Lebanon.
Since fighting with Hezbollah began in October 2023, Israel has established at least five positions in southern Lebanon. It has not withdrawn from them even after a ceasefire was announced in November 2024. After hostilities resumed in early March amid the war with Iran, Israeli ground forces entered southern Lebanon and have been advancing toward the Litani River.
Netanyahu said the move was part of a broader effort to establish three "buffer zones" around Israel: in Syria, where Israeli forces have seized territory from the top of Mount Hermon to the Yarmouk; in Gaza, where, he said, troops have converted "more than half" of the Palestinian enclave into a "buffer zone"; and in Lebanon, where he said he had instructed to expand the existing zone to thwart infiltration by Hezbollah.
All three are not internationally recognized.
"I said we will change the face of the Middle East, and we did," he said. "We initiate; we attack."
The deadly Middle East conflict, sparked by a coordinated U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran on Feb. 28, entered its 30th day. ■
