Israel says will stay in Lebanon beyond extended withdrawal deadline

The Israeli military says it will stay in Lebanon even after the extended deadline for the withdrawal of the regime forces under the ceasefire, warning local residents in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes.

In a post on X on Wednesday, the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee made the “urgent announcement” in Arabic, addressing “the people of Lebanon, especially South Lebanon.”

“The period of implementation of the agreement has been extended and” the Israeli military “is still deployed in the field, thus moving south is forbidden,” he said, warning that “Anyone moving south is putting themselves in danger.”

Israel was supposed to have withdrawn all its forces from Lebanon by January 26 under the truce deal it signed with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah in November. However, it refused to do so, and the deadline was extended to February 18.

Adraee further claimed that the regime’s forces have “no intention of harming you”, adding, “For your safety, you are prohibited from returning to your homes in the affected areas until further notice.”

More than 80 Lebanese have already been killed in Israeli attacks on the Arab country since the ceasefire came into force.

Israel wanted to remain in at least five military posts in Lebanon until February 28, 10 more days after the extended deadline for the withdrawal, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed Lebanese official and a foreign diplomat.

Lebanese representatives on the ceasefire oversight committee, which includes officials from the United States, France, Israel, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), have rejected Tel Aviv’s request.

Early this week, Washington reportedly told Tel Aviv that Israeli troops must withdraw from southern Lebanon by February 18, with no further extensions to the ceasefire being granted.

Lebanese army makes new deployments in south after Israel withdraws

The Lebanese army has deployed in several towns in southern Lebanon after Israeli military forces withdrew from the area.

Lebanon says Israel violated the ceasefire agreement and has thus lodged a complaint against the occupying entity with the United Nations Security Council.

According to Lebanese media, there have been over 830 Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect at the end of November.

The original agreement mandated that Lebanon’s military deploy alongside UN peacekeepers as Israel withdrew, while Hezbollah was to retreat north of the Litani River.

After experiencing substantial losses during almost 14 months of hostilities and not accomplishing its aims in its offensive against Lebanon, Israel had no choice but to accept a ceasefire with Hezbollah. The truce came into effect on November 27.

Since the start of the agreement though, the occupation forces have been conducting near-daily attacks on Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire, including airstrikes across the Arab country.

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