Israeli defense officials held broad consultations on Friday after four IDF soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, including Battalion 52 commander Lt. Col. Dor Ben Shimon. The main question before the political leadership is whether to break the commitment made to the Americans and strike hard in Beirut’s Dahieh district, even at the risk of an Iranian reaction, or to limit retaliation to targets in southern Lebanon and possibly carry out a limited ground maneuver to seize additional territory.
The debate comes amid mixed messages inside the security establishment about how long the IDF should remain in southern Lebanon. Some officials say the army will keep holding the security zone as needed to remove threats and protect northern Israeli communities, while others warn that regular and reserve forces are under heavy strain because of the number of missions and fronts, and need training, refreshers and breaks.
Senior IDF officials also signaled that they expect any military gains to be turned into a political process that produces practical results on the ground and understandings with governments. In practice, they say Hezbollah is trying to undermine the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon in order to pressure Israel and the United States and become part of a future Iran-U.S. settlement that would include Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Israel, by contrast, wants the first stage to be the demilitarization of southern Lebanon from terrorist infrastructure and Hezbollah operatives, and the final stage to be Hezbollah’s dismantling. A senior security source told Walla that Israel will no longer accept a Lebanese or U.N. mechanism to handle southern Lebanon’s cleanup and enforcement, and would only accept a U.S. mechanism that works in coordination with the IDF and preserves Israeli freedom of action if an immediate threat must be removed. A military official said the next steps are still being discussed in direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, with another round of meetings expected next week.
