Israel is implementing its Gaza strategy in Lebanon: turning ‘buffer zones’ into permanent borders
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/04/israel-is-implementing-its-gaza-strategy-in-lebanon-turning-buffer-zones-into-permanent-borders/
While the US-Israeli war on Iran and its economic repercussions on the global economy continues to be at the center of global media attention, Israel is in the process of re-drawing the map of the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon. If successful, Israel’s plans could have regional and global repercussions. And yet, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon has barely made a blip on the Western media’s radar.
Last week, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that Israeli forces will not leave the south of Lebanon after the end of the current war. Katz’s statements are in line with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said last weekend that he had instructed the Israeli army to expand its control in the south of Lebanon up to 10 kilometers, to create a “security buffer zone.” These statements come as the Israeli army has deployed four divisions to the Lebanese border, and continues to push into Lebanese territory.
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Applying Gaza’s ‘Yellow Zone’ logic in Lebanon
In the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli forces have conducted large-scale detonations and demolitions of Lebanese villages and infrastructure in the south. The tactics resemble the same tactics Israel used in Gaza during the height of the genocide.In Gaza, Israel had an explicit goal of pushing Palestinians permanently out of entire areas, like the northern Gaza Strip cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, and the southern city of Rafah.
Now, as Israel escalates its war on Lebanon, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has made Israel’s plans clear: implement the Gaza model of total destruction and ethnic cleansing. He said on Tuesday that “the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun” will be implemented in Lebanon.
Israeli plans to create a buffer zone 10 kilometers deep into Lebanon are more than a military strategy. It shows an intention to reshape an area of approximately 10,000 square kilometers, making it uninhabitable for its Lebanese residents, and putting it under Israeli military control.
In Syria, Israel hasn’t conducted the same kind of destruction, but it has announced that it will remain in the new territories it occupied after the fall of the al-Assad regime in December 2024. Together, in Lebanon and Syria, Israel seeks to maintain permanent control of some 14,000 square kilometers, all to create a so-called “buffer zone.”
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