Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly requested support from US President Donald Trump to extend the presence of the Israeli army in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
According to Israel’s Channel 12<\/em> television, Netanyahu aims to maintain Israeli military presence at five strategic points along the border, creating a buffer zone. Israel argues that the Lebanese army is not effectively deployed in the south of the country and is not preventing Hezbollah from reorganizing. Tel Aviv has warned the US that Hezbollah plans to return to the border line if the army withdraws.<\/p>\n Under the ceasefire agreement signed in November, the Israeli army was supposed to withdraw completely from southern Lebanon by January 26. However, Netanyahu announced that they would not withdraw on that date, claiming that Lebanon had failed to honor the agreement. Subsequently, with the mediation of the US, Israel and Lebanon reached an agreement, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops was extended until February 18.<\/p>\n Trump’s Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, visited Lebanon and Israel over the weekend. According to Channel 12<\/em>, Ortagus, together with Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Northern Command Commander Ori Gordin, conducted inspections in the border region.<\/p>\n In a statement in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, Ortagus stressed that the February 18 date set for the withdrawal of Israeli troops is definite, stating, “This is the date on which the Israeli army will complete the withdrawal process. The Lebanese army will enter the region after them. We are determined on this issue.”<\/p>\n According to the ceasefire agreement, simultaneously with the Israeli withdrawal, the Lebanese army, together with UN peacekeeping troops, would deploy in the south. In addition, Hezbollah was to withdraw north of the Litani River and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south. However, the Israeli army claims that Hezbollah continues to hide its weapons in prohibited areas and that the Lebanese army is not complying with the terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n In addition to these developments, the Syrian government accused Hezbollah of organizing attacks against security forces and supporting smuggling activities on the border. Lieutenant Colonel Moayed al-Salama of the Syrian army told the Syrian official news agency SANA<\/em> that Syrian security forces clashed with smuggling gangs, most of which were affiliated with Hezbollah, during the week, but did not target Lebanese territory.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of air strikes in Lebanon on Sunday. The Israeli military claimed that the strikes targeted a tunnel used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons across the Lebanese-Syrian border.<\/p>\n The overthrow of Assad in December also disrupted the Syrian land border, through which Iran has been supplying arms to Hezbollah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly requested support from US President Donald Trump to extend the presence of the Israeli army in Lebanon. According to Israel’s Channel 12 television, Netanyahu aims to maintain Israeli military presence at five strategic points along the border, creating a buffer zone. Israel argues that the Lebanese army is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1138,4585,2998,4048,319,2503,660,288,812,3066,4047,927,3199,2796,6400,6397,2997,1671,531,6399,1644,6398],"class_list":["post-7768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middleeast","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-border-security","tag-buffer-zone","tag-ceasefire-agreement","tag-donald-trump","tag-herzi-halevi","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israeli-army","tag-lebanese-army","tag-lebanon","tag-litani-river","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-moayed-al-salama","tag-morgan-ortagus","tag-ori-gordin","tag-smuggling","tag-syria","tag-un-peacekeeping-troops","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-weapons-smuggling"],"yoast_head":"\n