Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday condemned what he called Israel’s “illegal invasion” of southern Lebanon, which he said is a violation of territorial sovereignty.
Carney told reporters in French in Wakefield, Que., that a ceasefire is essential between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, against which Israeli forces have launched a renewed offensive.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier Tuesday that Israel plans to regulate a 30-kilometre area between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River — about one-tenth of Lebanon’s territory — even after the fighting with Hezbollah ends.
“It’s an illegal invasion — it’s an invasion of Lebanon,” Carney said in English. “It’s a violation of their territorial sovereignty.
“From a practical perspective, the federal government of Lebanon has banned Hezbollah, is attempting to take motion against Hezbollah and their terrorist activities and their threats to Israel. And that’s the purported justification for this invasion. So we condemn it.”
Global Affairs Canada posted on X last week that the federal government “strongly condemns Israel’s plans to occupy territory in southern Lebanon,” while also calling on Hezbollah to disarm and stop its attacks on Israel.
The Canadian government has declared Hezbollah to be a foreign terrorist entity since 2002. The group takes inspiration from the Iranian revolution and is devoted to Israel’s destruction, in keeping with the listing.
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The war within the Middle East widened when Hezbollah launched missiles toward Israel on March 2, two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran.
Israel immediately retaliated and declared war on Hezbollah, launching waves of airstrikes and sending ground troops across the border.
Greater than 1.2 million people have been displaced and one other 1,200 have been killed in Lebanon for the reason that fighting began. Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, including 4 announced Tuesday, and three United Nations peacekeepers were killed earlier this week.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this month ordered residents to go away swathes of the south, the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, and the group’s political heartlands in eastern Lebanon.
Katz said Tuesday that Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border, and that 600,000 individuals who fled the south is not going to be allowed home until northern Israel is secure.
“At the top of the operation, the IDF will establish a security zone inside Lebanon — a line of defense against anti-tank missiles — and can maintain security control over your complete area as much as the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges,” he said in a press release.
He added the destruction of homes near the Lebanese border will probably be done “in accordance with the model utilized in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza, with a view to permanently remove the threats near the border to northern residents.”
Israel on Tuesday launched latest strikes targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.
Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, Haneen Sayed, told Reuters that Israel’s ground operation, which she described as a “land grab,” was deepening the danger that Lebanese could be stuck in long-term displacement.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that Hezbollah had fired almost 5,000 drones, rockets and missiles at Israel in the course of the conflict.
The war is the second major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah since 2024. Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows within the last war, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and 1000’s of its fighters.
—with files from Reuters
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