The White House said, on Sunday, January 26, that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to depart southern Lebanon until February 18, after Israel requested more time to withdraw beyond the 60-day deadline stipulated in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November.
Hours before, Israeli forces in southern Lebanon failed to meet a deadline to withdraw their troops and opened fire on protesters demanding their withdrawal in line with the ceasefire agreement, killing at least 22 and injuring 124, Lebanese health officials reported.
The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese military was to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that ended on Sunday.
The parties have traded blame for the delay in implementing the agreement, and, on Friday, Israel said it would keep troops across the border in south Lebanon beyond the pullout date.
The White House said in a statement that “the arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025.” It added that the respective governments “will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023.” There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government, but Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed the extension.
Hezbollah blamed for stirring up Sunday’s protests
The announcement came hours after demonstrators, some of them carrying Hezbollah flags, attempted to enter several villages to protest Israel’s failure to withdraw from southern Lebanon by the original Sunday deadline. The dead included six women and a Lebanese army soldier, the Health Ministry said in a statement. People were reported wounded in nearly 20 villages in the border area.
The Israeli army blamed Hezbollah for stirring up Sunday’s protests. It said in a statement that its troops fired warning shots to “remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching.” It added that a number of suspects in proximity to Israeli troops were apprehended and were being questioned.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement addressing the people of southern Lebanon on Sunday that “Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following up on this issue at the highest levels to ensure your rights and dignity.” He urged them to “exercise self-restraint and trust in the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
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The Lebanese army, in a separate statement, said it was escorting civilians into some towns in the border area and called on residents to follow military instructions to ensure their safety.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal Movement party is allied with Hezbollah and who served as an interlocutor between the militant group and the US during ceasefire negotiations, said that Sunday’s bloodshed “is a clear and urgent call for the international community to act immediately and compel Israel to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories.”
An Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, posted on X that Hezbollah had sent “rioters” and is “trying to heat up the situation to cover up its situation and status in Lebanon and the Arab world.” He called Sunday morning for residents of the border area not to attempt to return to their villages.
Truce holding
Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon but are still present in areas further east. The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River – about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border – and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, on Friday, that the “agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state,” so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Netanyahu in a telephone call Sunday to “withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon” and stressed the importance of restoring Lebanese state authority nationwide, his office said.
The truce has generally held since November, despite repeated accusations of violations.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the head of mission of the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, called in a joint statement for both Israel and Lebanon to comply with their obligations under the ceasefire agreement. “The fact is that the timelines envisaged in the November Understanding have not been met,” the statement said. “As seen tragically this morning, conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages along the Blue Line.”
UNIFIL said that further violence risks undermining the fragile security situation in the area and “prospects for stability ushered in by the cessation of hostilities and the formation of a government in Lebanon.”
An AP team was stranded overnight at a UNIFIL base near Mays al-Jabal after the Israeli army erected roadblocks Saturday while they were joining a patrol by peacekeepers. The journalists reported hearing gunshots and booming sounds Sunday morning from the base, and peacekeepers said that dozens of protesters had gathered nearby.
