Israeli forces will not immediately withdraw from Lebanon when the ceasefire deal goes into effect, a US senior administration official said Tuesday, but must do so within 60 days under the terms of the agreement, CNN reported.
“They will not withdraw, but a 60-day period will start in which the Lebanese military and security forces will begin their deployment towards the south. This is a process that cannot happen overnight or in several days, and therefore there is this period to prevent any vacuums from being formed, where, as the Lebanese military deploys and reaches the South, the Israeli military will withdraw,” the official told reporters.
The official did not provide a clear answer about Israel’s right to respond militarily to violations of the ceasefire and whether the Israeli government could unilaterally choose to do so. They noted both Israel and Lebanon “retain the right of self-defense in accordance with international law.”
With regard to the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces from the south of Lebanon, the official said there is “an agreed upon map that is roughly north of the Litani (River) line, although it deviates some and goes further north than the Litani in certain areas.”
The Lebanese military will be “authorized and instructed” by the Lebanese government to take position in the south and ensure that Hezbollah both moves north and that all of their heavy weaponry is removed. The Lebanese military “will also be patrolling the area and ensuring that if there’s any remaining infrastructure or remaining weaponry, that it is removed and that no such infrastructure can be rebuilt again in that area,” the official said.
Many residents in the north of Israel – large numbers of whom have been evacuated from their homes – are angry about this ceasefire deal, according to BBC reports.
Shelly, an English teacher in Shlomi says a ceasefire was “irresponsible and hasty political decision” after Netanyahu’s announcement.
Rona Valency, evacuated from kibbutz Kfar Giladi on 8 October last year, told me she wanted to go home, and that a ceasefire was needed.
From Kfar Giladi there are clear views of the Lebanese village of Odaisseh just across the valley.
“The only thing I can hope for is that Hezbollah will not infiltrate these villages and build a new network,” Rona told me.
“Apart from completely erasing these villages, and having no people there, there is no real physical thing that can make me feel safe. It’s just, you know, hope.”
Her husband, Onn, said the key to security lay, not in the terms of the ceasefire agreement, but in people “understand[ing] again, where we live; understand[ing] some things that a lot of us forgot”.
He said he didn’t trust the Lebanese army, nor the Americans, to restore security along the border.
“I trust only our army,” he said. “I think if the army won’t be there, it will be very, very hard to get the citizens back.”
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