• Syria sends forces to Lebanon border; denies plans for cross-border incursion
• Lebanon to delay May elections amid conflict
JERUSALEM: Israel on Tuesday said it was establishing a buffer zone inside Lebanon and had ordered its troops to seize additional positions across the bor-der, as several projectiles were fired from Lebanese territory into Israel.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorised the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin, in a separate statement, said troops were creating a buffer zone inside Lebanon.
“In practice, Northern Command has moved forward, taken control of the dominating terrain, and is creating a buffer, as we promised, between our residents and any threat,” he said.
In response, the Lebanese army said it has redeployed soldiers from several recently established border positions on Tuesday following the Israeli army’s “escalation”, a Lebanese military source told AFP.
The Lebanese troops “numbering in total eight to nine soldiers at each point, were redeployed to their bases because of the danger to their safety”, the Lebanese military said.
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war a day earlier after an initial rocket attack on Israel by Hezbollah, which said it wanted to avenge the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the US-Israeli strikes.
Israel promptly responded with large-scale strikes on Lebanon, where the government on Monday declared an immediate ban on Hezbollah’s military activities.
By Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had already struck more than 160 Hezbollah targets “throughout south Lebanon”, including members of the Radwan Force, an elite fighting unit of Hezbollah.
It also killed Hezbollah’s intelligence chief, Hussein Muakalled, it said.
Later on Tuesday, the Israeli military said that several projectiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israel but a majority of them were intercepted.
Meanwhile, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Israel was “determined to eliminate” Hezbollah until it was disarmed.
AFPTV reported Tuesday a series of air strikes hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah holds sway, without any prior warning.
The military has also hit Hezbollah command centres, weapons storage facilities, and satellite communication components in Beirut, it said.
Hezbollah said it targeted on Tuesday three Israeli military bases in response to the Israeli strikes on the group’s strongholds.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s leaders have agreed on a plan to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for May and to extend parliament’s term by two years after the resumption of conflict.
The sources said Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker had agreed on the move on Tuesday.
Published in Dawn, March 4, 2026
