Israel decided to keep its forces in five locations despite the 18 February deadline [Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty]
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israeli forces would indefinitely remain in what he called a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon.
Katz earlier this month had said troops would stay at five locations in southern Lebanon even after the expiry of an extended deadline for Israel to withdraw under a ceasefire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah group.
“There is a buffer zone. It wasn’t easy but I stood my ground, and we received a green light from the United States. We gave them a map, and we are staying indefinitely – this is situation-dependent, not time-dependent,” Katz said at a conference, according to a statement issued by his office.
Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon on February 18 under a November 27 truce agreement which ended more than a year of hostilities, including more than two months of all-out war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
On the deadline day, Katz said Israel’s military “will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon with five control positions”.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called them “strategic high points” that were “necessary for our security”. He said at the time that Israel would “temporarily” remain in the five points until “Lebanon fully implements its side of the deal”.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and the country’s other leaders declared any Israeli presence on Lebanese soil an “occupation“.
Under the ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris, Lebanon’s military was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was prolonged to February 18.
Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle remaining military infrastructure there.
In a joint statement, UN envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said that at “the end of the period set” for Israel’s withdrawal and the Lebanese army’s deployment, any further “delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen” and a violation of a 2006 Security Council resolution that ended a past Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel – initiated by the militant group’s support of Gaza – ended with the ceasefire that has largely held despite ongoing Israeli violations which have killed several people.
The conflict significantly weakened Hezbollah and decimated its leadership.
