The Israeli army attacked south Lebanon residents as they tried to return to their villages on Sunday [Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty]
The US said on Sunday that the agreement between Lebanon and Israel would remain in effect until February 18, after Israel said on Friday it would keep troops in the south beyond the Sunday deadline set out in a US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah.
“The arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025,” the White House said in a statement.
It also said the governments of Lebanon, Israel and the US would begin negotiations for “the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023” by Israeli forces.
Lebanon confirmed it will continue to adhere to the agreement until February 18, the country’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement early on Monday.
Israeli forces killed 22 people in south Lebanon on Sunday as a deadline for their withdrawal passed and thousands of people tried to return to their homes in defiance of Israeli military orders. Residents, accompanied by the Lebanese army, managed to retake some towns and villages.
Lebanon’s US-backed military, which reported one of its soldiers among those killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, has accused Israel of procrastinating in its withdrawal.
The Hezbollah-Israel conflict was fought in parallel with the Gaza war, and peaked in a major Israeli offensive in September that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon, killed thousands, and left the Iran-backed group badly weakened.
Israel has not said how long its forces would remain in the south, where the Israeli military claims it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure.
Israel said its offensive against Hezbollah aimed to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who were forced to leave their towns and settlements at the border by rocket fire.
Hezbollah says it opened fire on October 8, 2023, in support of the Palestinians in Gaza a day after the start of the war there.
