Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel will not withdraw from southern Lebanon before removing what he described as a "threat" to northern Israel, stressing that the establishment of a buffer zone in the south represents one of the most notable achievements of military operations. Netanyahu said, during a tour he conducted inside what he described as the “security belt” in southern Lebanon, that the Israeli army “liquidated 9,000 Hezbollah militants in recent weeks,” considering that the goal of the safe zones is to remove the danger from the northern Israeli towns. He added, "The most important thing we did in Lebanon was to create a buffer zone," stressing that "the security zones represent a change in concepts, and we will not allow the presence of an army of terrorists on our borders," as he put it.