Aletho News

Forced to backtrack: ‘Israel’ drops Hezbollah disarmament goal

Al Mayadeen | April 3, 2026

The Israeli occupation army has acknowledged that disarming Hezbollah is not among the objectives of the current war, marking a significant reversal from positions held just two weeks prior, and a tacit admission of the limits of its military options in Lebanon.

“Israel’s” Channel 12 first reported the shift, with Israel Hayom military correspondent Lilach Shoval confirming that dismantling Hezbollah’s weapons is “not on the agenda.”

Yedioth Ahronoth described it as a formal change in the army’s direction, especially as the reversal came only two weeks after the army had publicly insisted it would pursue the full dismantling of Hezbollah’s arsenal.

The army now defines its primary objectives against Hezbollah as significantly weakening the group, establishing “a deep defensive line”, and demolishing dozens of homes along the frontline villages, mirroring the “yellow line” model applied in Gaza.

On disarmament, Israeli army officials admitted that “we must be modest on this issue.”

A sharp reversal

The course reversal stands in stark contrast to the maximalist rhetoric that defined the aggression’s opening weeks. Israeli War Minister Israel Katz had vowed to “separate Lebanon from the Iranian arena and strip Hezbollah of its ability to threaten, changing once and for all the situation in Lebanon,” explicitly invoking the Gaza model.

Meanwhile, IOF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir declared the campaign would end with “Hezbollah suffering a devastating blow,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, calling for the Litani River to become the entity’s “new border with the Lebanese state.”

Katz had also announced on March 24 that the IOF would establish a permanent security zone inside Lebanon up to the Litani River. He stated that all homes in border-adjacent villages would be demolished and that the return of displaced Lebanese civilians would be “completely prevented.”

Where officials once spoke of transforming Lebanon’s strategic landscape, the occupation army now concedes that full disarmament would require “a full occupation of Lebanon and the systematic dismantling of military infrastructure in every village,” conditions it realizes are unrealistic.

Notably, Israeli officials maintained that only the IOF, not the Lebanese state or any other party, could disarm Hezbollah, while simultaneously acknowledging that the conditions to do so do not exist.

‘A complex arena’

Earlier in the week, Israeli Channel 11, citing former army and Mossad officials, reported that “the Lebanese arena differs entirely from any other in terms of its complexity and military entanglement.”

Retired Major General and former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon “hold a relative advantage over the Israeli army due to their deep familiarity with the terrain,” adding that “every tree trunk and every small hill can serve as an ambush position.”

He cautioned that even controlling territory up to the Litani River “would not solve the problem of rockets and shells,” and stressed that the real challenge lies in adapting at the tactical level, not merely the strategic one.

Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Oren Leshem, a former senior Israeli Air Force officer, was equally candid, saying there is “no magic solution to the Lebanon issue” and that the army has tried every available approach over the past 18 years, including during the Second Lebanon War, yet the situation “remains complex and highly challenging.”

Channel 14 added that “the problem in Lebanon is that military forces are constantly on the move and exposed, while Hezbollah exploits the terrain to target them.”

April 3, 2026 - Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Zionism