Report: Israel wants 10-km buffer zone in south Lebanon

Israel wants its forces to enter south Lebanon by a depth of three kilometers and will leave it after cleansing the area of Hezbollah's presence, diplomatic sources said.

Israel is "not thinking of settling there, but will seek to carry out the mission as quickly as possible," U.S. officials have told Lebanon, al-Akhbar newspaper quoted the sources as saying.

The Americans understood that “Israel is determined to turn this entire area into a scorched area and that it does not want anything to stop it or hinder its work," the sources said.

Israel has also hinted that it has not abandoned its demand to establish a buffer zone 10 kilometers deep into Lebanon, but it considers that the remaining seven kilometers will be the responsibility of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army, and that if the two sides "do not do what is required of them, it will take over the mission later," the sources added.