Jerusalem, 29 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed a situation assessment at the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Northern Command, where he explained the decision to increase Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon.
“We are in a multi-arena campaign,” he said. “We are striking with immense force against Iran and its proxies. We are achieving great accomplishments, achievements that are creating visible cracks in the terrorist regime in Tehran. Iran is not the same Iran, Hezbollah is not the same Hezbollah, and Hamas is not the same Hamas.”
“These are no longer terrorist armies that threaten our existence; these are battered enemies fighting for their own survival,” added Netanyahu. “Instead of them surprising us, we are surprising them. We are the ones taking action, we are the ones attacking, we are the ones taking the initiative, and we are deep within their territory.”
Netanyahu went on to explain that, while Israel has eliminated immense threats posed by Hezbollah terrorists based in Lebanon, Hezbollah still has a “residual capability to launch rockets at us.”
And so, the Prime Minister instructed the IDF to further expand the existing security zone in order to “finally thwart the threat of invasion and to push the anti-tank missile fire away from our border.”