Welcome to the era of the buffer zone

The IDF is completing its withdrawal from Lebanon today, transferring responsibility for maintaining the ceasefire along the northern border to the Lebanese army while retaining control over five strategic positions.

Defense Minister Israel Katz addressed the IDF’s withdrawal this morning, stating: “Starting today, the IDF will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon at five key outposts along the border to ensure the protection of all Israeli communities and maintain deterrence.”

Following the 1982 Lebanese war, Israel retained some 10% of Lebanon as a security zone, before withdrawing to the international border in 2000. This time around, it is settling for carefully placed outposts close to the Israeli border.

Katz added that “many outposts have also been established along the Israeli side of the border. At the same time, the IDF will continue enforcement actions against any Hezbollah violations.”

The IDF outposts will remain on Lebanese soil in coordination and agreement with the United States. The following are the new names worth getting to know, as the buffer zone era begins:

• Al-Labouna Outpost – The westernmost outpost, located on the ridge above Shlomi. It is intended to control the hills overlooking the Western Galilee.

• Jabal Balat Outpost – Situated above Zar’it. Known to veterans of the Lebanon War and the subsequent years as “Karkum Outpost.” It will protect the area around Shtula and Zar’it.

• Jabal al-Deir Outpost – Overlooking Avivim and Malkia. It dominates the area of Bint Jbeil, Maroun al-Ras, and Wadi Saluki – names well-remembered by Israelis who fought in previous Lebanon wars, carrying both traumatic memories and explosive devices.

• Markaba-Khulta Outpost – High above Margaliot in the Galilee Panhandle.

• Al-Hamas Outpost – The northernmost and easternmost outpost, protecting Metula and overlooking the Lebanese towns of al-Khiam and Kila from above.

The IDF reiterated that the forces now assigned to defend northern communities will be significantly larger than those that were protecting the northern border before October 7, 2023. Yedioth Ahronoth military correspondent Yossi Yehoshua estimates that the current troop deployment is three times the size of what it was before the war.

“Meanwhile, the Northern Command has observed an improvement in the Lebanese army’s actions against Hezbollah — certainly compared to the period before the war and even the years leading up to it,” Yehoshua wrote this morning.

“However, despite [the Lebanese army’s] searches in villages for weapons, these steps are still considered limited and insufficient. Thus, the responsibility to prove that the reality has changed still rests with the State of Israel and its military,” he added.

Amir Bar-Shalom, the military analyst for Zman Israel, quotes a military source this morning who clarifies that the IDF is preparing for a prolonged stay at the five outposts.

“We will remain there until we determine that the necessary situation — one where Hezbollah is absent south of the Litani river — has been achieved. That is our recommendation,” the source said. “We don’t know how long that will take, so for now, we are there and are preparing for a long stay, subject to the government’s directives.”

The northern choice

In light of these developments, the government insists that Israel’s northern residents can safely return to their homes in communities adjacent to the Lebanese border starting March 1. Under relentless rocket and missile attack by Hezbollah, more than 70,000 northern residents were uprooted at the beginning of the war.

There’s just one small problem: Many of these residents no longer have intact homes to return to.

This has become a central issue in local elections that are being held for northern residents today, after a delay of 15 months due to the war. Residents are voting today to elect the leadership of their towns or cities, even though they have not lived in them since October 2023.

Metula Regional Council head David Azoulay is demanding that the state exclude his town —  which endured hundreds of anti-tank missile strikes and remains unfit for habitation — from the planned return. He requests that the return to Metula be postponed until at least July 1.

Property tax damage claims reveal that out of 650 homes in Metula, 460 have sustained damage from attacks — 120 of them severe damage. Public buildings in the town have also been heavily damaged.

The IDF’s Northern Command chief Uri Gordin “made a terrible decision,” Azoulay tells Haaretz this morning. “I would love for him to come live here on March 1 with his entire family, along with the officers and ministers who made this decision. As long as they don’t move here themselves on the date they set [for locals to return], they shouldn’t expect any other human being to.”

Syria also has a new buffer zone

Newly released satellite images reveal seven new IDF outposts established beyond the international border with Syria.

The names of some of these new bases will sound familiar to veteran Israelis who remember not only past Lebanon wars but also the Yom Kippur War in 1973: Mount Hermon (Syrian side), Hader, Jubbata al-Khashab, al-Hamidiya, Quneitra, al-Qataniyah, and Tel Kodna.

For now, there is no set date for the withdrawal of IDF forces from Syrian territory. In the meantime, housing structures for soldiers, command buildings, clinics, showers, and restrooms have already been built.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the Syrian Hermon outpost, reminding those who had forgotten that he himself fought there in the past.

“The strategic importance of this location for Israel’s security has only grown in recent years, especially after the dramatic events in Syria,” Netanyahu stated. “We will determine the best arrangement to ensure our security.”

With the IDF having carved out a border security area for Gaza, too, it appears that on most every front, the convenient arrangement is the magic term: buffer zone. Whereas, in the past, Israel semi-occupied territory adjacent to its borders, now it’s creating sterilized strips that potentially redefine its borders.

Another wave of murders among Arab citizens

Within one hour this morning, two people were murdered. A man was shot to death in Lod, and another was killed in a bomb explosion in Tayibe, at the very same location where his brother was murdered in almost identical circumstances three years ago.

Yesterday, three men were murdered – in Tel Aviv, Lod, and I’billin. According to the Abraham Initiatives organization, an NGO that tracks violent crime in the Arab society, 38 Arab citizens have been murdered in Israel since the beginning of 2025. In the same period last year, there were 21 murder victims in Arab society.

Lod Mayor Yair Revivo, whose city has seen two murders in the past 24 hours, tweeted bitterly this morning on X that the State of Israel has evidently decided to implement US President Donald Trump’s Arab migration plan [for Gazans] by simply reducing the [Israeli] Arab population.

“Instead of transfer, which is a big headache, let’s just let them kill each other. That way, we’ll get rid of the Arabs,” Revivo wrote sarcastically. “We are on track for over 300 murders a year in the Arab sector, and literally no one cares except me.”

It is unclear whom Revivo is blaming. After all, he himself is a member of Likud, the ruling party, and has hosted former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir in his city several times in recent years.

In fact, when it was announced that Ben Gvir would be appointed as the national security minister, responsible for the Israel Police, Revivo wrote to him: “We all hope that the new Knesset and government will put governance and addressing gun and shooting crimes at the top of the agenda.”

Well, not all hopes come true.