Israeli plan to occupy southern Lebanon | 20 April 2026 | The Israeli military has published a map outlining what it described as a “forward defense line” in southern Lebanon, despite calls for a full withdrawal following the announcement of a ceasefire. The map, published days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, shows a new deployment line several kilometers beyond the Israeli border, encompassing dozens of villages abandoned as the Jewish state’s troops invaded its neighbor, destroyed public infrastructure and killing some 3,700 people across the country, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to a U.S.-brokered ten-day ceasefire to halt more than a month of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, following the first direct talks between the two sides in decades on April 14.