The ⁠Israeli army ⁠will control the remaining bridges ‌over Lebanon’s Litani River and the ⁠area south of ⁠the river, ⁠Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has said, Al Jazeera reports.

Katz added that Israel had blown up all bridges over the Litani River that he alleged Hezbollah had used to transport weapons and fighters, and that the Israeli military would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani”.

Israel will install a “security zone” in southern Lebanon stretching to the Litani River, he declared, which would indefinitely displacing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents.

He added that “hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who evacuated northward will not return south of the Litani River until security for the residents of the north is ensured”.