Katz Says Israel Will Keep IDF in Lebanon Security Zones Despite Pressure

Hours after the United States and Iran signed an agreement, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Israel opposes any IDF withdrawal from Lebanon. He did not mention the deal with Iran in his remarks, instead focusing on Israel’s military posture along its borders.

Katz said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he are pursuing a clear policy under which the IDF will remain in security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza “indefinitely” to protect the border and Israeli communities from “jihadist” groups. He said the areas will be cleared of local residents and that all terror infrastructure, above and below ground, including houses in border villages used as terror outposts, will be destroyed. Katz called this “the main lesson of the events of October 7.”

He said holding territory and security zones is “one of the greatest achievements of the IDF” in the current war, under the government’s direction. “Therefore we oppose an IDF withdrawal from Lebanon, despite all the existing pressures and those that will still come,” he said.

Katz added that Netanyahu had conveyed this position to U.S. President Donald Trump and other senior American officials, and that he himself told U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth the same thing on Sunday. He said the IDF supports the stance professionally and security-wise, and challenged opposition figures to state publicly if they back withdrawal so the public can judge. He concluded that Israel will not compromise on its supreme security interest, and warned that if Iran attacks Israel over events in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran “with full force.”