00:00Israel says it is seizing a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a buffer zone against Hezbollah militants.
00:06That's worrying many Lebanese people who have lived through past Israeli occupations.
00:12So what are Israel's plans?
00:15Israel's defense minister said on March 24th that Israeli troops will occupy southern Lebanese land up to the Latani River,
00:23about 20 miles north of Israel's border.
00:26The territory amounts to almost a tenth of Lebanon.
00:29Israel began ordering all residents there to leave early March.
00:33That came after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel as the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran.
00:40Israeli forces have since set up military positions in the area, destroyed bridges, and demolished homes in emptied villages.
00:50Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said their troops were, quote,
00:53simply creating a larger buffer zone to push threats of Hezbollah rockets farther from Israeli towns.
01:00It has used similar tactics in Gaza and Syria.
01:03Defense Minister Israel Katz said their plan in Lebanon was based on the Rafa and Beit Hanun model.
01:11Those are towns in Gaza that Israeli forces have almost completely destroyed,
01:16along with swathes of the enclave's border to create a zone said to protect nearby Israeli residents.
01:23Throughout March, Hezbollah fired rockets from both north and south of Lebanon's Latani,
01:28causing deaths and damage in northern Israel.
01:32But for many Lebanese, memories of Israel's past occupations worry them.
01:38It invaded the south in a bloody 1978 campaign against Palestinian militants,
01:44and again in the 80s, all the way to the capital, Beirut.
01:47It occupied part of southern Lebanon for 22 years, until Hezbollah pushed them out in year 2000.
01:54More conflicts have erupted since, including in 2006 and in 2023, when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel,
02:02a day after the deadly October 7 Hamas-led attacks in Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
02:09If they took the Latani and entered Beirut, it would be like the 82 war,
02:13displaced woman Shahira Ahmad Dabdub told Reuters.
02:16She said it was a difficult war and accused Israeli troops of striking indiscriminately.
02:21They would hit wherever they wanted, she said.
02:24That's the fear.
02:25If they take the Latani, then they'll come here next.
02:32Hezbollah says it will fight any Israeli attempt to occupy the south,
02:36calling it an existential threat to Lebanon.
02:39Its militants have clashed with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon,
02:43as Israeli warplanes have heavily bombed the south, the east and the capital, Beirut.
02:48Lebanese officials say more than a thousand people have been killed
02:53and more than one million have been forced from their homes.
02:57They say so.
02:57Let's do it.
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