At the same time, the Lebanese army announced on Tuesday to have deployed in several border villages in the south of the country after the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The deadline set for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, expired on Tuesday February 18 in the morning. Despite this agreement, Israel has confirmed troops in “Five strategic points” To monitor the border.
A few hours before the deadline, already postponed once, a Lebanese official told AFP, under the cover of anonymity, that the Israeli army had started with a withdrawal from “Border villages (…), while the Lebanese army is advancing”.
But Israel has already warned Monday counting “temporarily leave a small number of soldiers deployed on five strategic points along the Lebanese border”despite the will of the Lebanese authorities to push for total withdrawal. The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on the X network the maintenance of forces along the border, “To ensure the protection of northern communities (from the Hebrew state).“”
The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been in effect since November 27, after more than two months of open war during which Israel launched land operations on Lebanese soil.
The authorities estimate the cost of reconstruction at more than ten billion dollars, while around 100,000 Lebanese, among more than a million displaced, still remain exiled, according to the UN.
Lebanon requires total withdrawal
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Israel was supposed to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon on January 26, where only the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeepers were to be deployed. Hezbollah had to dismantle its infrastructure and retire north of the Litani river, about thirty kilometers from the Israeli border. At the end of January, the deadline had been postponed to February 18.
The Israeli army presented its decision to stay in five points “Strategic” as “A temporary measure until the Lebanese armed forces are able to fully apply the agreement”.
This announcement places the Lebanese authorities in a delicate situation vis-à-vis Hezbollah, who, very weakened, estimated on Sunday that it was the responsibility of the Lebanese government to push Israel to remove its troops.
Before this announcement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, former army chief, called the guarantors of the truce agreement, the United States and France in particular, to exert pressure on Israel, saying fears “that a complete withdrawal is not made” Tuesday.
“I will not accept that one Israeli remains on Lebanese soil,” said Joseph Aoun, adding that the question of the disarmament of Hezbollah would be the subject of an “agreement” between Lebanese. “The army is responsible for the protection of border. If it is lacking, we will assume responsibility”he said.
In a statement, the new Lebanese government also said that the state should have the monopoly of arms in the country and promised to release “The whole territory”.
After an interview Sunday in Jerusalem with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Hezbollah must be disarmed”. “Israel would prefer that the Lebanese army is taking care of it, but no one should doubt that Israel will do what it has to do so that the ceasefire agreement is respected and to defend our security”he said.
Marco Rubio, who offered the unfailing support of his country to Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the United States and Israel were waiting for the Lebanese state that he “Faces and disarms Hezbollah”.
A military official of Hamas killed
Meanwhile, Israel continued his strikes in Lebanon, his army claiming to have killed a commander of Hamas accused of having “planned terrorist attacks”.
According to a Lebanese security source, Mohammad Chahine, “Responsible for a military unit of Hamas”was killed in an Israeli strike against a car in Saida (South).
In the sectors it controls in the south of the country, the Israeli army is also carrying out buildings of buildings daily, according to the official Lebanese agency Ani.
“The deliberate demolition by Israel of houses and civil infrastructure” Makes the return of many residents “in the border areas,” said Ramzi Kiss, from Human Rights Watch.