Katz from Lebanon: if Hezbollah joins an Iranian attack, Israel will seize territory and evacuate a Beirut suburb

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday, October 14, that Hezbollah would lose new territory in southern Lebanon if it takes part in an Iranian attack on Israel. Katz spoke during a visit to the security zone held by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, together with Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, 91st Division commander Brig. Gen. Yuval Gaz and other officers. He toured the front-line villages and was briefed on the operation to destroy the organisation’s infrastructure in the area.

“If Hezbollah joins Iran in an attack against Israel, it will be dealt a heavy blow and will lose additional territory in southern Lebanon, in the areas of Nabatieh and the Litani, which will become part of Israel’s permanent security zone,” Katz said, adding that the Israeli army is ready for a ground operation.

He also said that the Shiite population up to the Awali and Zahrani rivers would be evacuated northward, so that the organisation’s infrastructure can be hit and the threat of drones removed from the communities of northern Israel.

Dahiyeh and the Hezbollah leadership

The Israeli minister warned that the Dahiyeh district, the southern suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah has its headquarters, would also be evacuated and that the organisation’s infrastructure there would be struck, displacing “more than a million Shiites.” He repeated that Israel will not withdraw from the security zones in Lebanon and Syria.

Of the group’s secretary general he said that “Nasrallah destroyed the Shiite community in Lebanon until he was neutralised, and Naim Qassem can destroy it completely, until he is eliminated too.” It is not the first time Katz has directly threatened Qassem.

Two weeks before the Israeli elections

The warning comes two weeks before the Israeli elections of October 27. On Tuesday, at an event in Binyamina, Katz had said that Israeli agencies have identified attempts by Iran and its allies to carry out attacks aimed at influencing the result of the vote, and that whoever attacks Israel before or after the elections “will pay the heaviest price.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he is not seeking a pre-emptive strike on Iran before the elections, but warned Tehran and its allies not to attack.

The same day, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh arrived in Beirut with a diplomatic delegation. He was received at the airport by a delegation of the Amal movement on behalf of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah MP Ali Mekdad was also present.

Israeli operations in Lebanon are continuing despite a US-mediated framework agreement that provides for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah rejected the Israel-Lebanon agreement as early as the end of August.