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Israel will keep troops in five posts in southern Lebanon beyond the February 18 deadline for its withdrawal from the country, the Israeli military said on Monday.
Military spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani told reporters the move was in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. "We need to remain at those points at the moment to defend Israeli citizens, to make sure this process is complete and eventually hand it over to the Lebanese armed forces," he said.
An MP from the Hezbollah-Amal bloc told The National: "It was clear that the occupation would delay its scheduled withdrawal on February 18, citing the security of the settlements as a pretext to remain in several locations."
Contact is being made between the Lebanese government, the US, France and members of the overseeing committee, he added.
"This constitutes a new violation of the ceasefire agreement. The continued presence of Israelis in five areas will subject Lebanon and the new administration to internal and external pressures that are not in their favor," the MP said.
The areas include Jabal Blat, a mountainous region less than 1km from the border with Israel and about 10km from the coast, the nearby Labbouneh area and the three adjacent hills of Al Azziyeh, Al Awidah and El Hamames, further north-east and closer to the Syrian-occupied Golan region. “These points are in high areas and directly overlook some settlements in northern Israel such as Metula, Shlomi and Zarit,” a Lebanese political source has said previously.
"The Israelis want to give the impression to their settlers in the north that they are ensuring a safe return," a source close to Hezbollah said. "The Israelis are acting as if Lebanon has a defeated will, believing they can impose new facts on the ground, including continuing the series of assassinations, as happened today in Sidon. The resistance is keen on giving the new government the opportunity and time to work on ending these occupation points."
Senior Hamas commander Mohammed Shaheen was killed on Monday in a strike in the southern city of Sidon, the Israeli army said, a day before the deadline for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon under a fragile ceasefire.
Mr Shaheen was the chief of Hamas's military operations in Lebanon, according to the Israeli military and the Shin Bet. "Shaheen was a significant source of knowledge within the organization and was involved throughout the war with advancing various terror attacks, including rocket fire on the Israeli home front," the army said.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Sunday it was the recently formed Lebanese government's responsibility to ensure that the Israeli army withdraws from the country by February 18 – the ceasefire deadline – as Israel carried out air strikes and fired at residents returning to the south.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place between Israel and Hezbollah since November 27 but both sides have accused each other of breaching the agreement. Under the deal, the Lebanese army was to be posted alongside the UN peacekeeping force as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was extended to February 18.
During Israel’s war on Lebanon and Hezbollah from October 2023, Sidon was sporadically attacked but the city had been spared since the truce took hold in November last year.
Under the deal, Lebanon's military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.
“Israel must fully withdraw on February 18, it has no excuse,” Mr Qassem said. “It is the responsibility of the Lebanese state” to make every effort “to make Israel withdraw”, he added.
Lebanese media reported Morgan Ortagus, deputy presidential envoy for the Middle East, was expected to arrive in Beirut on Monday for talks ahead of the deadline. Israel last week said its troops would remain in southern Lebanon – a move fiercely contested by the government and Hezbollah. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected reports that Beirut had agreed to extend the ceasefire deal, saying he had repeatedly insisted that Israel must withdraw before the February 18 deadline.
A woman was killed and several others were injured when Israeli troops opened fire on a group of residents attempting to return to their homes in the village of Houla, in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. There was no comment from the Israeli military on the incident but it acknowledged carrying out air strikes attacking what it described as Hezbollah military sites.
The military said the Israeli Air Force "conducted precision, intelligence-based strikes on a number of military sites in Lebanese territory containing rocket launchers and weapons, where Hezbollah activity had been identified”, without specifying the exact location of the strikes. Lebanese media reported three strikes in the Bekaa Valley in the east.
Two people taken from Houla by Israeli troops were forced to return on foot to the entrance of the town where the Lebanese army is stationed, the NNA reported.
The violence came after a weekend of unrest over the government's decision to ban Iranian flights, fuelling internal tension. Hezbollah supporters gathered for protests on Beirut's Airport Road when a UN convoy passed through. The force's departing deputy commander, Maj Gen Chok Bahadur Dhakal, was injured in the incident. Mr Qassem condemned the attack on the Unifil convoy but also criticised the Lebanese army for tear-gassing protesters who he said had “gathered peacefully”.
Lebanon halted an Iranian flight to Beirut this week after the Israeli military accused Tehran of using civilian aircraft to smuggle cash to Beirut to arm the group. Tehran said it would not allow Lebanese flights to land until its own planes were cleared to land in Beirut. Hezbollah said it “demands that the government reverse its decision to ban Iranian planes from landing at Beirut airport and take serious measures to prevent the Israeli enemy from imposing its dictates”.
Lebanese sources told AFP the decision to block Iranian flights was made after US warnings that Israel would attack the airport. “The security of Beirut airport takes precedence over any other consideration,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday. “And the safety of travellers as well as the safety of Lebanese citizens are elements on which we will not compromise.”
In Israel, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US and Israel expected the Lebanese government to work towards disarming Hezbollah. “In the case of Lebanon, our goals are aligned in the same. A strong Lebanese state that can take on and disarm Hezbollah,” Mr Rubio said in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
