Israeli forces will persist with military strikes in Lebanon and maintain their ground presence in the south for the foreseeable future, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday. The statement comes shortly after Washington unveiled a new ceasefire agreement contingent on Hezbollah terminating its operations. While negotiated between Lebanese and Israeli officials via U.S.-led diplomatic channels, Hezbollah was not a direct party to the talks and has yet to issue an official response. Meanwhile, hostilities on the ground continued without interruption; Israeli drones carried out multiple strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, including a fatal attack on a motorcycle, while the Israeli military explicitly warned residents that it remains focused on dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
The ongoing conflict has repeatedly breached various U.S.-declared ceasefires since April. The latest round of warfare was ignited on March 2, when Hezbollah launched attacks to support Tehran during a U.S.-Israeli military confrontation. Resolving the crisis in Lebanon has since become a central diplomatic hurdle, with Iran demanding a complete halt to Israeli operations as a baseline for wider regional negotiations.
According to the U.S. State Department, the newly proposed truce hinges entirely on Hezbollah halting all fire and evacuating its operatives from the territory stretching between the Israeli border and the Litani River. Critically, the framework does not mandate an immediate Israeli retreat from its self-declared southern security zone. Minister Katz confirmed that Israeli troops will remain stationed across these occupied border zones—including the recently captured Beaufort Castle—and specified that displaced local populations would not yet be permitted to return. The intense military campaign has already displaced roughly 1.2 million people, primarily Shi’ite Muslims from the south, according to Lebanese officials.
The diplomatic roadmap outlines a plan for Israel and Lebanon to establish “pilot zones” where the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would hold exclusive territorial authority, effectively sidelining non-state armed groups. While the LAF had previously deployed south of the Litani River following a prior ceasefire in late 2024, enforcing compliance remains a major point of friction. Lebanon’s Maronite Christian President Joseph Aoun and Sunni Muslim Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have spent the past year pushing for Hezbollah’s peaceful disarmament, prompting the militant group to demand that Beirut withdraw from the Washington-led negotiations entirely.
Domestically, the agreement has faced political pushback on both sides. In Israel, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir condemned the truce as a serious error, arguing that the Lebanese army lacks the capability to force a Hezbollah withdrawal. Concurrently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced domestic criticism regarding national sovereignty after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that Israel would refrain from hitting Beirut. Addressing these concerns, Katz emphasized that Israel retains U.S.-backed operational freedom to launch retaliatory strikes in Beirut if domestic territory is targeted. Amid the ongoing friction, UNIFIL reported that a UN peacekeeper died and two others were wounded following a mortar attack on their position near Marjayoun, prompting an official United Nations investigation.
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