Hezbollah will fight to prevent the Israeli army from occupying southern Lebanon, one of the Shiite group’s senior deputies, Hassan Fadlala, told Reuters today, saying such an occupation would pose an “existential threat” to Lebanon as a state.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Kats announced earlier that he had ordered the army to create a “security zone” that would stretch from the Israeli border to the Litani River, 30 kilometers deep.