The Cradle
'Israel's new border must be the Litani': Israeli minister demands annexation of south Lebanon
https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2036116188770512935
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/36697#google_vignette
'Israel's new border must be the Litani': Israeli minister demands annexation of south Lebanon
Israel has sought to annex south Lebanon for decades to secure additional water resources and expand
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on 23 March that Israel should annex large swathes of southern Lebanon, extending its border to the Litani River, as Israeli forces bombed bridges and destroyed homes in an ongoing military campaign.
Smotrich told an Israeli radio program that the military campaign in Lebanon “needs to end with a different reality entirely, both with the Hezbollah decision but also with the change of Israel's borders.”
“I say here definitively ... in every room and in every discussion, too: the new Israeli border must be the Litani,” Smotrich said.
Israel expanded its bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon on 2 March, days after launching a war against Iran alongside the US.
Since then, Israel has demanded that all residents leave the territory south of the Litani River, while carrying out airstrikes and ground attacks that have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The Litani River flows from the mountains in eastern Lebanon to the sea in the west and serves as the country's primary water source.
The area south of the Litani covers about 850 square kilometers and is home to approximately 200,000 people.
Hezbollah units are active in the area south of the Litani, seeking to repel the Israeli invasion and prevent the territory from being annexed by Israel.
Israeli leaders have desired to conquer southern Lebanon for decades, to capture both its water resources and expand the borders of "Greater Israel," which they hope will also include the entire West Bank, Gaza, southern Syria, Jordan, and parts of Iraq.
For these reasons, Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. Israeli troops occupied the south from 1982 to 2000, when Hezbollah's guerrilla war succeeded in forcing an Israeli withdrawal.
The Lebanese resistance is seeking to defend south Lebanon amid opposition from the country's government, led by pro-US officials.
As Israel began escalating attacks earlier this month, the Lebanese government banned Hezbollah's military activity.
The Israeli finance minister also called for Israel to annex territory it occupies in the Gaza Strip, where he also wishes to cleanse the territory of its Palestinian population and build Jewish settlements.
In a bid to cut off southern Lebanon from the rest of the country, Israel has begun destroying all bridges and crossings over the Litani River and stepped up the demolition of homes near the southern border, moves that are illegal under international law.
Hanna Amil, the mayor of the Christian border town Rmeish, whose residents have refused to leave their homes, told Reuters that it was getting increasingly difficult to move around.
“Once or twice a week, a convoy from the Lebanese army accompanies us as we try to get basic goods from nearby areas,” he said.
“Already, we have no state electricity, no water, and we have diesel shortages. If all the routes to the north get cut off, who knows what the future could hold for us,” Amil went on to say.
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