We might end up with expanded buffer zone in south Lebanon, UNIFIL chief says

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the United Nations’ peacekeeping chief, told reporters Monday that it looks like Israel is expanding a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

He said that given Israeli military statements and actions, "it certainly looks like we might end up with, I would call it, an expanded buffer zone in southern Lebanon."

He added, "Now what width, what breadth, what size, what all of this, of course, is very difficult to assess."

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had ordered the military to “further expand” a security zone in Lebanon.

“In Lebanon, I have just ordered the military to further expand the existing security zone,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

“This is intended to definitively neutralize the threat of invasion (by Hezbollah fighters) and to keep anti-tank missile fire away from the border,” he added.