The Israeli defense minister said Sunday that he had ordered the military to step up its destruction of bridges and houses in southern Lebanon, adding to fears over Israel’s plans in its offensive against Hezbollah that has already killed more than 1,000 people and displaced over a million in Lebanon.
Israel Katz, the defense minister, said in a statement on Sunday that he had instructed Israeli forces to destroy more bridges that cross the Litani River in southern Lebanon. He charged that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group, was using them to bring reinforcements to the south to fight Israel.
The routes are also used by Lebanese civilians, including by people seeking to flee to the north for safety. The new orders have added to fears that Israel is seeking to essentially cut off swathes of southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.
The military had also been ordered to demolish buildings in some towns close to the border with Israel, Mr. Katz added. He suggested that the soldiers would clear the area “along the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” two Gazan cities which were largely razed by Israeli forces during the two-year war with Hamas, the Iranian-backed group in the Palestinian enclave.
More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in the Israeli offensive and over a million have been displaced, according to the Lebanese government. The Israeli military has bombarded sites across the country, including in the center of Beirut, the capital.
Israeli forces have been instructed to “immediately destroy all of the bridges over the Litani that are being used for terrorist purposes,” Mr. Katz said.
Israeli soldiers have already been advancing in southern Lebanon as part of an effort to create a military-controlled buffer zone. Many Lebanese fear that the Israeli assault could lead to a new occupation in parts of southern Lebanon, which Israel controlled for about two decades before withdrawing in 2000.
Israel’s long-simmering conflict with Hezbollah has ignited into full-blown war multiple times over the past two and a half years amid the broader crisis in the Middle East.
After a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the devastating war in Gaza, Hezbollah began shooting rockets and drones at Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian allies. The fighting escalated the following year.
Israel killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in 2024 and forced the group to accept a cease-fire. Despite the truce, Israel continued to bomb Hezbollah fighters, leaders, and military sites in an effort to degrade the group’s forces. Badly battered by the fighting, Hezbollah did not respond militarily, although its officials threatened to do so.
After Israel and the United States attacked Iran last month and killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the longtime Iranian ruler, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets at Israel. The Israeli military retaliated with a wide-scale military campaign, including airstrikes across the country and a ground offensive.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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