Israel will use its “full force” in Lebanon if its soldiers are threatened

Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened on Sunday that Israel would use its “full force” in Lebanon despite the truce with Hezbollah, if its soldiers were threatened, repeating that it would destroy the homes it accuses the party of using in the border villages.

“I and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israeli army to use full force, whether on the ground or from the air, even during the truce, in order to protect our soldiers in Lebanon from any threat,” Katz said during a ceremony in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

He added that the army received orders “to remove homes in villages near the border that were, in all respects, being used as Hezbollah concentration points and threatened Israeli communities.”