THA Staff
The New Arab / December 29, 2024
The Israeli army would be violating the ceasefire agreement should it remain for more than 60 days in South Lebanon, as the deal demands their withdrawal.
Israeli troops are reportedly seeking to extend their presence in southern Lebanon beyond the 60-day withdrawal period agreed on during the ceasefire agreement last month, according to Israeli media.
The Israel Hayom newspaper said the army was “considering” remaining in some control points in south Lebanon even after the 60 days specified in the agreement ends, adding that the topic has been discussed in recent days at political and security levels in the country.
The newspaper attributed Israel’s reasoning to keep its forces in southern Lebanon to “the slow deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country”, whose positioning in the country’s south is also a must, as per the deal.
It also said the Israeli army is considering staying beyond the 60-day period due to the “amount of Hezbollah-affiliated weapons still found in the area”, as well as the Lebanese group’s attempts to rebuild its strength, in case of Israeli retaliation.
Since the start of the truce, Israel has violated the ceasefire at least 325 times, according to the Turkish Anadolu agency, which has killed at least 33 Lebanese over the past month.
Israeli forces have opened fire at Lebanese towns, setting properties ablaze and have detonated homes since.
An extended presence in the south beyond the 60-day period would also count as a ceasefire violation.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a fishing port in Naqoura, forcing fishermen to abandon their boats and belongings. The soldiers then vandalised and stole the contents of the fishermen’s port in the South Lebanon town, state media said.
Last week, the Lebanese government and UNIFIL peacekeepers urged the Israeli army to accelerate its withdrawal from the south, with acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati calling the US and France to “pressure” the Israeli military to leave the territory.
The ceasefire was agreed upon in late November following more than a year of cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, occurring in parallel with the war in Gaza, beginning on October 7, 2023.
The violence rapidly escalated into a fully-fledged war in September this year, after Israel carried out a number of pager and walkie-talkie attacks in the country, and began striking Beirut’s southern suburbs, and other parts of the country.
Over 4,000 Lebanese have been killed during the war, with the majority of the casualties killed between September and November.
