Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an expansion of the military buffer zone inside Lebanon, designed to thwart the threat of invasion and to counter the anti-missile threat from Hezbollah. The announcement was welcomed on both sides of the border. The Israeli government has been conducting frequent strikes on Hezbollah targets during the ceasefire, but no rockets had been fired from southern Lebanon into Israel for over a year. The government plans to establish a permanent security buffer zone in southern Lebanon, in an attempt to push Hezbollah forces and its rocket arsenal away from Israel’s border. Since March 2, Hezbollah fired on Israel days after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran, vowing retaliation for the assassination of Iran’�s supreme leader. Since then, Israel has been aggressive in its response, including a massive aerial bombardment of Hezbollah positions, displacement of a million Lebanese with no option for return, and a full-scale Israeli ground incursion in the south of the country. The military is currently holding positions up to 10 kilometers deep in Lebanon.