Israel always knew southern Lebanon Shia villages ‘had to disappear’, minister says Submitted by Ayse Betul on Tue, 06/30/2026 - 15:08 Israel’s Operation Silver Plow has served as a cover for the systematic destruction and depopulation of residential border villages Destruction seen after Israeli military strikes on a neighbourhood in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, 23 June 2026 (Joseph Eid/AFP) Off The destruction of villages in southern Lebanon was inevitable from the beginning of Israel ’s invasion, an Israeli minister openly admitted on Monday. Defence Minister Israel Katz said during a briefing with military correspondents that “it was clear during Operation Silver Plow that the Shia villages along the contact line had to disappear”. He hinted that the Israeli military sought the total destruction of border towns along the "Yellow Line" , the buffer zone south of the Litani River.