Lebanon: Israel advances towards open occupation, protected by total impunity

There are no more pretenses. No more diplomatic language to hide reality.

By affirming that the Israeli army will control “the entire area up to the Litani”, Defense Minister Israel Katz is not describing a defensive measure: he is claiming a plan for pure and simple occupation of southern Lebanon. This declaration, made today from the heart of the Israeli military command alongside Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, represents a strategy of assumed territorial expansion. A military advance on a sovereign territory, imposed by force, without an international mandate, without a legal framework, without the slightest restraint.

Impunity as a doctrine

If Israel can today openly announce its intention to occupy part of Lebanon, it is because it knows that it will, once again, not be worried. Neither sanctions, nor serious pressure, nor political consequences: impunity has become a structuring element of its military policy. An impunity that authorizes all transgressions, including the most flagrant violations of international law. The talk about the “buffer zone” is just a smokescreen. Behind it, there is a raw reality: that of a State which extends its military control beyond its borders, in full conscience, and without fear of accountability.

A logic of repeated occupation

This scenario is nothing new. Southern Lebanon has already been occupied for almost two decades, from 1982 to 2000. Today, the same logic is at work, with the same contempt for Lebanese sovereignty and the same predictable consequences: violence, instability, escalation. But this time, the difference is elsewhere: the occupation is no longer even hidden. She says herself, she announces herself, she claims herself.

Beyond Lebanon, what is at stake is fundamental. If such a policy can be carried out without reaction, then international law ceases to be a norm and becomes an adjustment variable. By advancing to the Litani, Israel is not simply redrawing a border by force. It sends a clear message: the law of the strongest prevails, and no rules are imposed on those who benefit from sufficient political protection.