Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Israel will maintain control of a “security zone” in southern Lebanon, up to the Litani River, until the threat of Hezbollah is removed, as the Air Force continued to pound targets belonging to the Iran-backed terror group, which kept up its rocket barrages on northern Israel.

“The IDF will continue to operate in Lebanon with full force against Hezbollah. Hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who evacuated northward will not [be allowed to] return south of the Litani River until security for the residents of the north [of Israel] is ensured,” he said during an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top officers.

Katz said that all bridges over the Litani River that had been used by Hezbollah to move operatives and weapons into southern Lebanon “have been blown up, and the IDF will control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani.”

“The principle is clear: Where there is terror and missiles, there will be no homes and no residents, and the IDF will be inside [Lebanon],” he added.

On Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested Israel go further and move its border with Lebanon up to the Litani River.

Israel ran a costly occupation of Lebanon’s south in 1982-2000.

A November 2024 ceasefire agreement obligated the Lebanese national government to ensure there were no weapons held by non-state bodies in the area of south Lebanon between Israel and the Litani. A 2006 UN Security Council resolution had already barred Hezbollah from operating in the region, but it was consistently violated.

Meanwhile, the IDF said Tuesday that troops operating on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov recently located a Hezbollah tunnel shaft, as well as demolished other structures used by the terror group.

The Israeli Air Force also leveled a multistory building and struck other structures in Beirut overnight Monday-Tuesday that the military said were being used by Hezbollah as command centers.

According to the IDF, the strikes in the Lebanese capital targeted Hezbollah headquarters, including one belonging to the elite Radwan Force and another of the terror group’s intelligence division.

Another overnight strike in the southern Lebanon town of at-Tiri targeted a Hezbollah command center that had been embedded within a studio of the terror group’s Al-Nour radio station, according to the IDF.

The military said the headquarters was struck while Hezbollah operatives were operating at the site.

Last night, the IDF reiterated an evacuation warning for Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, ahead of strikes on the terror group’s sites.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israel’s overnight attacks had targeted seven areas.

צפו בתיעודים מהלילה: צה"ל תקף תחנת שידור הפועלת בחסות חיזבאללה ומפקדות של יחידת 'כוח רדואן' לאורך הלילה, צה"ל תקף תשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בביירות ובמרחבים נוספים בלבנון. בתקיפות שבוצעו בביירות, הותקפו מפקדות של ארגון הטרור, בהן מפקדה של יחידת 'כוח רדואן', ממנה פעלו מחבלי… pic.twitter.com/0PTCNeutAz — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 24, 2026

צפו בתיעודים מהלילה: צה"ל תקף תחנת שידור הפועלת בחסות חיזבאללה ומפקדות של יחידת 'כוח רדואן'

לאורך הלילה, צה"ל תקף תשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בביירות ובמרחבים נוספים בלבנון.

בתקיפות שבוצעו בביירות, הותקפו מפקדות של ארגון הטרור, בהן מפקדה של יחידת 'כוח רדואן', ממנה פעלו מחבלי… pic.twitter.com/0PTCNeutAz

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 24, 2026

“Enemy warplanes launched seven raids overnight on the southern suburbs, targeting the areas of: Bir al-Abed, Al-Ruwais — outskirts of Al-Manshiyya, Haret Hreik, Sayyed Hadi Nasrallah Highway, Saint Therese, Burj al-Barajneh and Al-Kafaat,” NNA said on Tuesday.

Separately, Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike on Bshamoun, south of Beirut, killed two people on Tuesday.

“The Israeli enemy raid on the town of Bshamoun in the Aley district resulted, in a preliminary toll, in the martyrdom of two citizens and the injury of five others,” the ministry said in a statement, without specifying if the casualties were civilians or combatants.

Located in the mountainous, Druze-majority Aley district southeast of Beirut, Bshamoun lies outside of Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.

Additionally, on Tuesday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Haifa Bay area.

According to the military, most of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses, and there were no immediate reports of impacts in residential areas.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said it has not received any reports of injuries.

Sirens had sounded in Acre and the Krayot suburbs of Haifa.

Since it resumed its attacks on March 2, Hezbollah has been firing an average of about 150 rockets per day, according to the IDF. Roughly two-thirds of the daily rocket fire has been directed at Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon and along the border, with the remaining third aimed at Israel.

The Israeli military has said that it has killed over 570 Hezbollah operatives, including 220 members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since then.

More than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have also been struck, including 120 command centers, 100 weapon depots, and 130 missile launchers, according to the IDF.

The IDF believes Hezbollah still possesses thousands of short-range rockets, along with hundreds of longer-range projectiles. The IDF has said that Hezbollah is launching most of its attacks from deeper within southern Lebanon, and not from close to the border.

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