Beirut/Jerusalem (Reuters) – The Israeli army has ordered thousands of displaced Lebanese to stay away from villages near the border until further notice, a day after announcing that its forces would remain in south Lebanon beyond a Sunday deadline to withdraw.
The deadline was part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by Washington and Paris, which required Israeli forces to withdraw from south Lebanon as Hezbollah’s weapons and fighters were removed from the area and the Lebanese army deployed, within a 60-day period that ends on Sunday.
However, Israel said on Friday that the terms had not been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, meaning Israeli troops would stay beyond Sunday, without specifying how long. Lebanon’s US-backed military accused Israel of procrastination in its withdrawal.
In a statement on social media, the Israeli military posted a map showing an area of the south containing dozens of villages, saying that until further notice, residents remained forbidden from returning to their homes. “Anyone who moves south of this line puts themselves in danger,” the statement said.
The ceasefire ended a war fought in parallel with the Gaza war, which peaked in a major Israeli offensive against Hezbollah that uprooted over a million people in Lebanon and left the militant group badly weakened.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said that indications that Israel would not complete its withdrawal on time marked a dangerous development that threatened the course of the agreements agreed to by the Lebanese government.
The White House said on Friday that a short, temporary ceasefire extension was urgently needed, while French President Emmanuel Macron told his Lebanese counterpart that he was making contacts to maintain the ceasefire and complete the implementation of the agreement.
Aoun stressed to Macron the need to oblige Israel to implement the deal to preserve stability in the south. The Israeli military says it has been seizing Hezbollah weapons and dismantling its infrastructure in the south, while the Lebanese army has been implementing a plan to strengthen its deployment south of the Litani River.
