WhatsappOne of the main disagreements between Prime Minister Netanyahu and now former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was the goals of the war against Hezbollah. Unlike Gaza, there had been broad consensus within the IDF General Staff that Israel must control at least the initial border communities in southern Lebanon. This of course would not help return Israel’s northern residents to their homes because cornet missiles can be fired from ranges up to 12km - far more than the 4km the the IDF and Defense Minister agreed on. Netanyahu and his Military Secretary Roman Goffman as well as most of the cabinet disagreed and wanted the IDF to focus on clearing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon until the Litani River as well as controlling the Lebanese border region between Lebanon and Syria.
Within 24 hours of Gallant’s departure, Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi made a public announcement regarding the war in the North, explaining how the IDF must be prepared to expand operations in Lebanon. “Alongside the diplomatic attempt to reach agreements in Lebanon, we need to continue formulating the plans for the continuation of the fighting in Lebanon, including expanding and deepening the [ground] maneuver, and we will activate these plans as needed.” He added that the IDF “continues to strike Hezbollah targets according to plan in the entire region, in southern Lebanon, the Beqqa Valley, Beirut and Syria.”
Israel has begun to soften up the areas from between Bint Jbeil and the Litani River through increased bombing. The IDF also controls Khiam and Et Tiab which is farther to the north at the closest distance between the Litani River and Metula. With Israel’s push to the north now in motion, the IDF is set to control all of the area below the Litani River, which will finally restore the upper Galilee to its fullest – something the Sykes-Picot agreement of over 100 years ago ripped away from Israel.
Once this is accomplished, the IDF will have to control the southern Beqqa Valley that over looks the Highway M2 or 1 otherwise known as the Beirut-Damascus highway to ensure Hezbollah can never again be rearmed. If Israel is serious about controlling southern Lebanon after the war, it must reach out to the Druze and Christians in both Rashaya, which is the center of the Druze strongholds in the southeast along the border of Syria and Marjaayoun, the Christian hub just south of the Litani and only 10 km from Israel. These two communities and the villages surrounding them should be annexed and offered Israeli citizenship immediately to give Israel full security control over the strategic area.
Lebanon is at most a failed state and with that realization, land and populaces should be governed by stable entities with legitimate claims to large areas of the former French colony. With Yoav Gallant gone and Yisrael Katz in Israel has the will to finally finish off Hezbollah and liberate the rest of the northern Galilee (aka south Lebanon) from illegal Shiite occupation. only this will bring peace and stability to all residents of the region.
