Israeli troops remain deployed inside southern Lebanon as Washington pushes to turn a fragile halt in fighting into a lasting security agreement
BYSCN NEWS
BEIRUT — Israel’s continuing military presence inside southern Lebanon is emerging as one of the most difficult obstacles to converting a U.S.-backed ceasefire into a durable settlement, with Beirut demanding a withdrawal while Israel says it will retain its positions until the threat from Hezbollah is addressed.
Israeli forces are holding a buffer zone extending roughly 10 kilometers into Lebanon along the border, according to Reuters. Israel says the deployment is intended to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding positions from which it could threaten communities in northern Israel.
Lebanon has called for Israeli forces to withdraw and for authority in the south to return fully to the Lebanese state.
The competing demands have left the two sides facing a fundamental question even as large-scale hostilities have eased: what must happen before Israeli troops leave Lebanese territory?
President Donald Trump has repeatedly presented the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and subsequent negotiations as evidence of diplomatic progress.
Washington helped broker the initial cessation of hostilities in April and later hosted talks aimed at extending the arrangement and moving the parties toward a broader settlement.
But the reduction in fighting has not resolved the territorial dispute created by Israel’s military deployment.
Israel says Hezbollah’s continued armed presence prevents a full withdrawal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said troops will remain until Israel believes security conditions allow them to leave.
Lebanese authorities reject an open-ended Israeli presence and have pressed for restoration of Lebanese sovereignty over the south.
That disagreement is now closely tied to another central issue in negotiations: Hezbollah’s weapons.
The United States and Israel want the Lebanese state to establish effective security control in the south and prevent Hezbollah from maintaining an independent military infrastructure near the Israeli border.
For Beirut, implementing that objective while securing an Israeli withdrawal presents both a security and political challenge.
The consequences are also being felt by civilians.
Access restrictions remain in areas controlled by Israeli forces, complicating the return of residents displaced during the fighting. Israel has previously warned civilians against entering parts of the territory under its control.
The dispute has therefore moved beyond whether the guns remain largely quiet.
The next measure of the ceasefire will be whether diplomacy can produce a sequence acceptable to both sides: stronger Lebanese state control, restrictions on Hezbollah’s military presence and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
Without agreement on those issues, the ceasefire may continue to suppress a wider war without resolving the conditions that could restart one.