Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he had issued orders to the army to work to expand the “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon, in light of the continuation of Israeli military operations in the region. Netanyahu said: “I ordered the army to expand the existing buffer zone further,” noting that the goal of this step is to reduce the risk of any attack that Hezbollah might launch, and to prevent the launch of anti-tank missiles across the border. For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Netanyahu held a security assessment with the participation of Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, to discuss expanding the scope of ground operations in southern Lebanon.