Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Thursday that Israeli forces have no plans to withdraw from a security zone inside southern Lebanon, directly rebuffing recent criticism from Washington and tying any pullback to the complete disarmament of Hezbollah.
“We are not withdrawing from this security zone,” Katz said, adding that Israeli forces “will cleanse this area and ensure the security of the northern residents.” He said Israel would “not withdraw from the security zone in Lebanon as long as Hezbollah is not disarmed and the threat of Hezbollah in all of Lebanon is not removed.” Katz said he had “instructed the IDF to prepare for an extended presence in the area to protect the combat forces and the communities, until this goal is fully achieved.”
The comments came a day after a U.S. State Department official pushed back on Israel’s posture, saying “the United States expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the Framework they agreed to, and Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon,” and pledging that Washington “will continue to support full implementation of that process.”
The dispute traces back to a framework agreement Israel and Lebanon signed in late June, under which Israel agreed to withdraw from certain areas of southern Lebanon in exchange for verified disarmament of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that has fought multiple wars with Israel over the decades. Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon has displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, the large majority from Hezbollah’s Shiite Muslim base of support in the country’s south.
The standoff carries political stakes on both sides of the border. Israel is heading toward an election this fall, giving Katz’s hardline stance domestic significance, while Lebanese officials and residents have grown increasingly frustrated with the extended Israeli presence. Beirut resident Hussam Mneimeh, reacting to the continued occupation, said Israeli forces “cannot remain occupiers,” recalling that “there have been previous experiences” in which Israel “occupied Lebanon and then withdrew in one way or another, whether through political negotiation or through war.”
With Hezbollah’s disarmament nowhere near complete and Israeli officials now openly preparing for an extended troop presence, the framework agreement’s central bargain, withdrawal in exchange for disarmament, appears increasingly strained. It remains unclear how or whether Washington intends to enforce its interpretation of the deal now that Israel has publicly broken with U.S. expectations on timing.
