Beirut, Lebanon - Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic destruction" of the country's south as a shocking violation of international law.
Salam said Israeli "attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic destruction of homes," infrastructure, government buildings and places of worship "represent a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law and international humanitarian law."
Claiming that villages and towns "are entirely 'military facilities' does not stand up to any logic and cannot be used as an excuse for destroying them, displacing their inhabitants, and preventing them from returning," he said in a statement.
The condemnation came after Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on Wednesday "the IDF is here to stay" in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, and boasted that the military is "destroying all the houses" in certain areas.
Lebanon was forced into President Donald Trump's Middle East war in March when Hezbollah retaliated against deadly strikes on Iran.
Since launching indiscriminate attacks on Lebanon's south, Israel has killed more than 4300 people and displaced millions.
A framework deal reached in late June between Lebanon and Israel involves the disarmament Hezbollah and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon, replaced by the Lebanese army.
When asked about Katz's remarks, a State Department official said the US "expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon."
"A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the Framework, or the long-term peace and security of both states," the spokesperson said in an email to AFP.