Israel says its troop withdrawal from Lebanon will extend beyond ceasefire deadline

The Israeli army will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by a Monday deadline, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‘s office said on Friday, saying Lebanon has not yet fully enforced the ceasefire agreement.

The deal, brokered by France and the US, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. The fighting peaked with a major Israeli offensive that displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon and left the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group severely weakened.

Under the agreement, which was signed on November 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani river. Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese army deploys into the region, all within a 60-day timeframe due to conclude on Monday at 4am local time.

The deal also stipulates that the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over the 60-day period.

In its statement issued Friday, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli military’s withdrawal process was “contingent on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon, and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani”.

The statement added that, “since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States”.

Hezbollah says withdrawal postponement is breach of ceasefire deal

Hezbollah said in a statement that there had been leaks talking about Israel postponing its withdrawal beyond the 60-day period, and that any breach of the agreement would be unacceptable.

The statement said that possibility required everyone, especially Lebanese political powers, to pile pressure on the states which sponsored the deal to ensure “the implementation of the full (Israeli) withdrawal and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the last inch of Lebanese territory and the return of the people to their villages quickly”.

Any delay beyond the 60 days would mark a blatant violation of the deal with which the Lebanese state would have to deal “through all means and methods guaranteed by international charters” to recover Lebanese land “from the occupation’s clutches”, Hezbollah said.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violations since the truce came into effect in November.

UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, has also reported repeated Israeli violations of the terms of the ceasefire.

Israel said its campaign against Hezbollah is aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes in northern Israel due to Hezbollah rocket fire.

Israel inflicted major blows on Hezbollah during the conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and thousands of the group’s fighters and destroying much of its arsenal.

Hezbollah was further weakened in December when its Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, was toppled, cutting its overland supply route from Iran.

Israeli presence ‘complicates’ Lebanese army deployment

A senior Lebanese political source told AFP on Thursday that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had been in contact with US and French officials to urge Israel to complete the withdrawal within the stipulated timeframe.

The Lebanese government has told US mediators that Israel’s failure to withdraw on time could complicate the Lebanese army’s deployment, and this would be a blow to diplomatic efforts and the optimistic atmosphere in Lebanon since Aoun was elected president on January 9.

Earlier this week, Ali Fayyad, a Hezbollah lawmaker, said that if Israel failed to withdraw this would put all Lebanese people in a new phase of “confronting the Israeli occupation through all possible means and tools to force it from our land”.

“This confrontation is the responsibility of all Lebanese: the government, the army, the people, parties and resistance,” said Fayyad in comments reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

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