Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said a newly launched ground operation in southern Lebanon will continue until the Hezbollah militant group no longer poses a threat to residents of northern Israel.

Katz made the remarks hours after the Israeli military announced it had begun what it described as a “targeted ground operation against key targets” in southern Lebanon. The move involves pushing additional forces deeper into the area as part of efforts to expand a buffer zone along the border.

“The Israeli army has begun a ground maneuver in Lebanon to remove threats and protect the residents of the Galilee and the north,” Katz said in a statement following a security assessment with senior military officials.

He added that the campaign would continue until Hezbollah no longer threatens Israeli border communities. According to Katz, hundreds of thousands of Shiite residents of southern Lebanon who have evacuated or are currently leaving their homes would not be able to return to areas south of the Litani River until security for northern Israel is guaranteed.

Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure near the border to prevent the group from reestablishing a presence there.

He said the operation is intended to mirror tactics used by the Israeli military during its prolonged campaign against Hamas in Gaza, including operations in Rafah and Beit Hanoun and the destruction of militant tunnels.

The defense minister vowed that the campaign would restore a sense of security to communities in northern Israel.

Katz also sharply criticized Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, saying he was hiding underground while his actions had turned more than a million Lebanese into “refugees in their own country.”

In unusually harsh language, Katz said that if Qassem missed his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah and former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei — both of whom had been killed by Israel — “he will soon be able to meet them in the depths of hell.”

He added that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price” for what he described as the group’s attempts to destroy Israel.