Israeli Commander Calls for Occupying Parts of Southern Lebanon to Form Buffer Zone

A smoke plume billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Kfar Shouba in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on September 16, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
A smoke plume billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Kfar Shouba in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on September 16, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
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Israeli Commander Calls for Occupying Parts of Southern Lebanon to Form Buffer Zone

A smoke plume billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Kfar Shouba in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on September 16, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
A smoke plume billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Kfar Shouba in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on September 16, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Commander of Israel’s Northern Command Major General Ori Gordin called on Monday for occupying part of southern Lebanon to turn it into a buffer zone that would prevent Hezbollah from launching attacks on northern Israel, thereby allowing displaced residents of the North to return to their homes.

Gordin submitted his recommendation to Israel’s chief of staff, reported Israel’s Israel Hayom daily.

It quoted sources as saying that Gordin believes that the conditions are appropriate and the army could create the buffer zone in a short time.

They explained that Israel has killed several members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit that is deployed along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Several of the members have also fled the area.

Only 20 percent of the Lebanese population remains in the South with the rest fleeing the attacks between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah had started launching attacks against Israel in support of Hamas in wake of the October 7 attack.

The sources noted that the low number of civilians in the region would make the Israeli military’s operation “simple and much faster.”

The purpose of the operation would be to eliminate the Hezbollah threat and force it to remove its fighters from the border areas so that they can no longer pose a risk to northern Israel, said Gordin.

Moreover, the occupation of some southern regions would gain Israel a bargaining chip in talks over a permanent settlement, which Hezbollah would have to agree to in exchange for the withdrawal of the Israeli army, he added.

Israel Hayom reported that some forces in the army expressed their reservations over the plan because it would pave the way for a wide-scale battle with Hezbollah. They warned that it remains unclear if such a fight could be contained to prevent it from turning into a long battle that may turn into a broad regional conflict.

Israel on Tuesday expanded its stated goals of the war in Gaza to include enabling residents to return to communities in northern Israel that have been evacuated due to attacks by Hezbollah.

The decision was approved during an overnight meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, Netanyahu's office said.

Israel Hayom said that the majority of political and military leaderships in Israel were not keen on waging a war on Lebanon. They believe that Israel can deal Hezbollah a fatal blow, but it would incur heavy losses in the process.



UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.

"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.

US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The UN has said it had fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved and said it would investigate all accusations made.

Klaus said that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four staff members on administrative leave as it investigated allegations they had breached the UN principle of neutrality.

One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year and a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Klaus also said there was "no direct impact" on the agency's Lebanon operations from a new Israeli law banning UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that "UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon."

The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.

UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Its commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization."