Alexandra Sharp
Foreign Policy / January 24, 2025
Troops were supposed to withdraw by Sunday under the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire deal.
The Israeli security cabinet authorized the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) late Thursday to remain in some areas of southern Lebanon past the 60-day withdrawal deadline set to expire on Sunday. Under the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire agreement approved last November, both sides must fully remove all of their troops from the region by Jan. 26 to reinstate the borders laid out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
Israel says that it must remain in the occupied territory because the Lebanese military has failed to prevent Hezbollah from operating there. “There is movement, but it is not moving fast enough,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Thursday.
According to Andrea Tenenti, the spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Israel still occupies around 70 percent of the territory that it captured after its Oct. 1, 2024, incursion into the country. It is unclear how long the Israeli presence may continue, but one Israeli official told CNN that the government wants its forces to remain in Lebanon for at least another 30 days.
“It is imperative to prioritize the security of northern residents and ensure that the threat to northern communities does not reemerge,” Israeli parliamentarian Benny Gantz wrote on X on Friday, referring to past Hezbollah attacks on Israeli towns near the border. “Otherwise, we have learned nothing from Oct. 7.”
Hezbollah warned Israel on Thursday that if its forces remain in Lebanon, then the group would consider Israel’s actions to be “a blatant violation of the agreement, an attack on Lebanese sovereignty, and the beginning of a new chapter of occupation.” The militant group has called on international monitors, including the United States and France, to prevent Israel from prolonging its presence there.
Under the November cease-fire deal, only the Lebanese military and U.N. peacekeepers can remain in southern Lebanon after the 60-day deadline expires.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said that Israel was in close talks with the Trump administration and was seeking U.S. approval to delay its withdrawal. On Friday, the White House said that a “short, temporary ceasefire extension is urgently needed” in Lebanon and that it was working with allies to finalize an extension.
“President [Donald] Trump is committed to ensuring Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel, while also supporting President [Joseph] Aoun and the new Lebanese government,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told Al-Arabiya English in an emailed statement. “We are pleased that the IDF has started the withdrawal from the central regions, and we continue to work closely with our regional partners to finalize the extension.”
Israel’s threat to the cease-fire deal is a test for Aoun. Upon taking office this month, ending a yearslong power vacuum in the country, Aoun vowed to centralize Lebanon’s weapons under the mandate of the state. Such a pledge expressed his desire to remove Hezbollah’s long-time grip on power, even as the militant group’s influence remains entrenched in Lebanese politics.
However, should fighting between Israel and Hezbollah restart, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned that Israeli attacks would not differentiate between Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces. Hezbollah forces have been steadily attacking Israel since Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with its fellow Iranian-backed proxy Hamas in Gaza.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy
