Israel Says It Is Cementing Its Foothold in Southern Lebanon

The Israeli defense minister said Friday that the military’s capture of a strategic ridge in Lebanon a day earlier had consolidated its foothold in the south of the country, adding to concerns that Israel intends to prolong its monthslong occupation there. The Ali al-Taher ridge, about six miles from Lebanon’s border with Israel, sits above a sprawling underground base for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that Israel has long fought. The ridge had increasingly become a focal point of the conflict, which reignited in March after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Hezbollah’s chief backer. The Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said in a video statement that the capture of Ali al-Taher marked “the completion of the process of consolidating our hold on the security zone in southern Lebanon,” referring to an Israeli-occupied strip of Lebanese territory along the border. Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to a request for comment on Israel’s claim that it had captured the ridgeline. The office of the Lebanese presidency declined to comment. In June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a U.S.-brokered framework intended to end the fighting and eventually restore Lebanese control over the country’s south. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .