Katz vows IDF won’t withdraw from south Lebanon ‘even if there’s an American demand’

By Emanuel Fabian

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24 June 2026, 1:45 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Defense Minister Israel Katz attends the Muni Expo 2026 conference in Tel Aviv, on June 24, 2026 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz vows that the IDF will not withdraw from its southern Lebanon security zone, “even if there is an American demand.”

“200,000 [Lebanese] residents will not return [to the homes they evacuated]. Because what happened in the past in security zones, where there was also a civilian population [present], was roadside bombs and attacks against the soldiers, and therefore we will not allow that,” he says at the Muni Expo conference for local officials in Tel Aviv.

“We are not withdrawing,” Katz adds.