Israeli defense minister announces a 700-square-kilometer "security zone" inside Lebanon and hints at advancing toward Nabatieh

⏱️ Timeline

1. 20 Oct 2026, 17:00 The Israeli defense minister announced that Israel had established a security zone inside Lebanese territory covering 700 square kilometers. MTV Lebanon carried the same announcement without additional details on the zone's boundaries or the circumstances of its creation.
2. 20 Oct 2026, 17:07 The Israeli defense minister said Israel was ready for an additional incursion in the Nabatieh and Litani areas of southern Lebanon, indicating that residents would be evacuated and the two areas annexed to the security zone. In later reports, Minister Yisrael Katz spoke of a "permanent security zone" and hinted at a possible expansion of the military move toward the city of Nabatieh, without details on the nature or timing of such a move.
3. 20 Oct 2026, 18:43 Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened that the Israeli army was ready to launch an operation targeting additional areas around Nabatieh and the Litani River in southern Lebanon, stressing that there would be no withdrawal from the security zone as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed across all of Lebanon. He announced that Israel had established a security zone covering 700 square kilometers inside Lebanese territory and that it had destroyed more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon that had contained 23,000 homes.

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