CCUPIED JERUSALEM – Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel, in order to be protected from Hezbollah militants.

 

Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war on March 2 when Hizbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in joint US-Israeli strikes.

 

Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops now occupy swathes of territory near the border.

 

"Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hizbollah," Netanyahu told Fox News's show, The Sunday Briefing.

 

Netanyahu did not name the Christian villages he said had made such a request.

 

Christian villages in the Marjeyoun area of southern Lebanon on Friday denied some media reports suggesting they had sought annexation, saying in a statement they had "no power nor the legal right" to make decisions of such magnitude.

 

The villages reaffirmed their determination to stay on their land, stressing their "loyalty to their national identity" and their "attachment to their Lebanese flag".

 

Since the war began, some Christian villages in southern Lebanon have endured Israeli shelling, airstrikes, displacement, and infrastructure damage.

 

Most have remained inhabited despite Israeli evacuation orders, with residents choosing to stay to protect their homes, churches and farmland, though some villages were partially or fully evacuated.

 

During the war, the Israeli military has warned several Christian-majority villages -- through phone calls to mayors and local officials -- not to allow "strangers" in, referring to Hezbollah fighters.

 

Israel's military chief visited forces deployed around Beaufort castle in southern Lebanon on Sunday, vowing to push ahead with the campaign against Hizbollah.

"The IDF will continue to operate decisively to remove threats from Lebanese territory and is prepared to transition rapidly to offensive operations should the ceasefire be violated," Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir told soldiers during the visit, according to a statement issued by the military.

Israeli forces seized the crusader-era castle and the area around it recently, giving the military a strategic toehold it previously occupied for nearly two decades.

Israel says it uncovered a tunnel network beneath the castle, saying it was built to give fighters of Lebanese militant group Hizbollah a fortified strike hub just kilometres from Israeli territory.

Israel previously overran the fortress during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, after a prolonged battle with the Palestinian fighters hidden in the castle's maze of historic underground tunnels.

The castle was damaged by violent bombardment in the process.

Israel then used it as one of its main observation posts until its troops withdrew from the country in 2000.

"Our troops' activities at the Beaufort Ridge and throughout southern Lebanon are being carried out in accordance with the framework of the agreement and the mechanisms established under it," Zamir said on Sunday, referring to the recent US-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon intended to permanently halt hostilities.

But Zamir said that "any threat directed at our troops or the Israeli civilians will be struck immediately and eliminated".

"The Lebanese Armed Forces are required to fulfil their commitments under the historic agreement that was signed and act to clear the area of Hizbollah terrorists and terrorist infrastructure," he added.

Hizbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes days earlier.

Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops now occupy swathes of territory near the border.