Following the targeted elimination of terrorists and the systematic demolition of Hezbollah terror tunnels along the Ali Taher ridge, Israeli defense forces are completing operational preparations to enforce tight, permanent control over the strategic ridgeline to thwart any adversary attempt to re-infiltrate or entrench in the sector. Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a sharp and unequivocal warning directed at Lebanon, stating bluntly: “Whoever approaches the Ali Taher ridge will be destroyed.”
Addressing the operational significance of the sector, the defense minister underscored the vital importance of the dominant terrain in safeguarding the security of northern Israeli communities: “The Ali Taher ridge forms an integral part of the Yellow Line and Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon, which encompasses 700 square kilometers extending from the Mediterranean coastline in the west, through Beaufort Castle, and toward the Mount Hermon sector in the east.”
Katz reiterated the steadfast security policy established by the political and defense leadership: “As Prime Minister Netanyahu and I have repeatedly clarified: We are not budging from the security zone—and the IDF will neither withdraw nor redeploy until Hezbollah is fully disarmed across all of Lebanon.”
Security establishment officials emphasized that the demolition of underground terror infrastructure along the ridge does not signal the conclusion of combat operations.
Israeli forces will continue operating vigorously throughout the entirety of the security perimeter to track down combatants and neutralize terrorist apparatuses both above and below ground, ensuring the decisive removal of any threat directed against frontline troops and northern border communities.