Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had instructed the military to further expand the existing security buffer zone in southern Lebanon, vowing to fundamentally change the security situation there.

"I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north," Netanyahu said in a video statement from the Northern Command.

He said the decision aimed to strengthen Israel's security posture along the northern frontier, amid ongoing tensions along Israel's northern border, where cross-border hostilities have raised fears of a broader regional escalation.