Israel will not withdraw from southern Lebanon as part of the newly agreed to US-Iran deal despite Iranian demands, an Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
An IDF source also confirmed that if Hezbollah respects the ceasefire, there will be no attacks anywhere in Lebanon.
Later on Monday, a senior White House source confirmed to Walla that an IDF withdrawal from Lebanon is not part of the deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night held a press conference addressing the deal.
“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
IDF will not attack Hezbollah beyond Litani line
Early on Monday morning, the Post confirmed with senior IDF officials that there would be zero attacks anywhere in Lebanon – not just in Beirut – following the deal, provided Hezbollah also kept the ceasefire.
This was a change from the April 7 temporary ceasefire, in which, early on, senior IDF sources told the Post that if Hezbollah kept the deal, there would be no IDF attacks beyond the Litani River ceasefire line, but that the IDF would continue attacks on any Hezbollah fighters in areas it already controlled in southern Lebanon and who refused to surrender.
Over the course of the day on Monday, the IDF uncharacteristically held no briefings with military correspondents and, stunningly, after having issued a dozen or dozens of updates per day on the various military fronts, did not send a single message relating to the battle fronts since around midnight Sunday night.
However, around 5:30 p.m., there were multiple unconfirmed reports of IDF attacks on small vehicles in southern Lebanon, which allegedly had come close enough to IDF forces to potentially present an immediate threat.
Despite repeated requests for clarification regarding the attacks in Lebanon, no official IDF sources were willing to confirm anything on the record, clearly showing the sensitivity of the moment in terms of avoiding antagonizing Iran and Trump.
The contrast was made even clearer when, at 8:15 p.m., the IDF announced the killing of two Hamas officials in separate attacks in central and northern Gaza.
The two killings were defined as necessary to prevent them from carrying out attacks that they were planning, but not as imminent an attack as if a Hamas terrorist was already approaching IDF soldiers.
Israel struck in Beirut hours before US-Iran deal reached
Hours before the US-Iran deal was finalized on Sunday, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to target the Dahiyeh district of Beirut in response to Hezbollah fire toward Israeli territory.
“Israel will not tolerate fire directed at its territory,” they said in a joint statement.
According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, the IDF notified US Central Command (CENTCOM) shortly before conducting the strike.
US President Donald Trump spoke to Netanyahu after the strikes and publicly denounced them on social media.
“This morning’s attacks should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump added that, while Israel has the right to “defend itself against threats,” the threat it was defending itself against was “very small and meaningless.”
Idan Kweller, Shir Perets, Maya Zanger-Nadis, and Reuters contributed to this report.