Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday announced that the withdrawal of its forces from southern Lebanon would continue beyond the 60-day period stipulated in a November ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Under the deal brokered by France and the US, the withdrawal deadline expires Monday, January 27.
The pact, mediated by France and the United States, marked the end of more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The conflict culminated in a massive Israeli attack in Lebanon, displacing over 1.2 million people and severely crippling the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement.
The deal, agreed on November 27, requires Hezbollah to transfer weapons and fighters from territories south of the Litani River. Israeli troops should depart when the Lebanese army deploys in the region, all within a 60-day timeline that ends on Monday at 4 a.m. 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 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.
Since the truce began in November, both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating it.
Israel stated that its war against Hezbollah is intended to ensure the return home of tens of thousands of residents forced to flee their homes in northern Israel due to Hezbollah rocket fire.
During the fighting, Israel dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and thousands of fighters while destroying much of the group’s arsenal.
