IDF chief said to tell Netanyahu Hezbollah is weak after anger over claim group was underestimated

Israel Hayom reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers last night that a potential ceasefire between the US and Iran would not mean that Israel has to stop fighting in Lebanon.

According to the report, Defense Minister Israel Katz also reportedly tells the forum that “the ultimate goal” of the campaign in Lebanon “is to disarm Hezbollah by all military and political means. Of course, also beyond the Litani, and we are working on that.”

He said that the IDF is demilitarizing southern Lebanon up to the Litani while retaining full freedom of action for Israel in Lebanon.

“There is not and will not be a population that is hostile to Israel in this area. Not even a civilian one,” said Katz, according to the report.

His comments come days after a senior military official said that the prospect of fully disarming the group was unrealistic and not a “required goal” of the army’s ongoing ground offensive.

According to the report, Netanyahu expressed anger over comments by IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, aired by Channel 12 news, that security officials overestimated the damage done to Hezbollah’s military capabilities following the army’s 2024 ground offensive.

The report claims that officers offered an alternative perspective, expressing surprise at how poorly Hezbollah has been fighting on the ground.

“Hezbollah’s performance is low in every way,” an intelligence officer is quoted as having said. “I expected more from Hezbollah.”

“If we were surprised by anything, it was Hezbollah’s low level of fighting, both in terms of motivation or lack of motivation, and in terms of combat capability,” the report says IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told the meeting. “We discovered that the terrifying Radwan force is not that terrifying.”