Netanyahu Suggests Israel Might not Complete Its Withdrawal from Lebanon by a Ceasefire Deadline

AP

11:09 JST, January 25, 2025

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Friday that Israel might not withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon by a deadline set in its ceasefire with Hezbollah, and Washington appears prepared to push for an extension.

Under the deal reached in November, Israel is supposed to complete its withdrawal from the country by Sunday. Hezbollah militants must pull back to the north of the Litani River, and the Lebanese armed forces would patrol the buffer zone in southern Lebanon alongside U.N. peacekeepers.

Netanyahu said in a statement that the ceasefire “is based on the understanding that the withdrawal process could possibly continue beyond the 60 days.” The statement went on to say that the Lebanese government hasn’t yet “fully enforced” the agreement, an apparent reference to the deployment of Lebanese troops.

Israeli officials have held talks in recent days with the United States, which brokered the agreement along with France.

The Trump administration believes that “a short, temporary ceasefire extension is urgently needed” in Lebanon, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a statement Friday.

“President Trump is committed to ensuring Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel,” while also supporting the new Lebanese government under President Michel Aoun, the statement said.

“All parties share the goal of ensuring Hezbollah does not have the ability to threaten the Lebanese people or their neighbors,” Hughes said. He said the U.S. is “pleased that the IDF has started the withdrawal from the central regions.”

There was no immediate response to Netanyahu’s statement from Lebanon or Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government has said that it can’t send its forces into areas until Israeli troops have withdrawn. Hezbollah has warned that it could resume the fighting if Israel doesn’t withdraw from Lebanon in accordance with the ceasefire.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are allies of Iran, and Hezbollah said that it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and the sides traded fire for more than a year. The war escalated in September, when Israel carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes across Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his deputies. Israeli ground forces invaded days later.

Israeli air and ground assaults killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians. At the height of the war, more than 1 million Lebanese people were displaced.

Hezbollah rockets forced around 60,000 people from their homes in northern Israel, and killed 76 people in Israel, including 31 soldiers. Almost 50 Israeli soldiers were killed during operations inside Lebanon.