Israel Threatens to Use Full Force if Its Forces are Threatened Despite a Ceasefire

Israeli tanks during the invasion of Lebanon in March. (Wikimedia Commons/IDF Spokesperson's Unit photographer)

JAKARTA - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the country's military had been instructed to use "full force" in Lebanon, even during the ongoing ceasefire, if its forces faced any threat.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed (the military) to act with full force, both on land and from the air, including during the ceasefire, to protect our soldiers in Lebanon from any threat," Katz said at an event in the occupied West Bank, launching Al Arabiya with AFP (20/4).

Furthermore, Katz said the military had also been ordered to destroy any structures or roads "plastered with mines" and threatening soldiers.

"The goal is to destroy houses in villages near the border that serve as Hezbollah terror posts and threaten Israeli communities," Katz added.

Earlier, an Israeli soldier was killed in southern Lebanon on Friday - the day a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect - when he entered a building rigged with mines, the military said.

Katz has repeatedly said Israel will destroy homes along the border, as part of efforts to establish a security zone in southern Lebanon.

On Saturday, Israeli forces carried out destruction in the town of Bint Jbeil, where fierce fighting with Hezbollah took place before the recently agreed ceasefire.

"The main goal of the campaign in Lebanon is the disarmament of Hezbollah and the elimination of the threat to communities in the north, through a combination of military and diplomatic action," Katz said.

"If the Lebanese government continues to fail to fulfill its obligations - (the Israeli military) will do so through continued military action," he continued.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war in early March, when Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in support of Iran.

Israel responded with a massive attack across Lebanon and an invasion of southern Lebanon.