Due to the slower-than-expected deployment of the Lebanese Army to southern Lebanon, the IDF’s withdrawal from the country is going slower than initially planned, several officials have said.
This comes as Israel enters the second half of the 60-day ceasefire deal – the so-called “implementation phase.” The officials say they believe the IDF will have to stay in southern Lebanon past the agreed 60 days.
Authorities told The Jerusalem Post last week, “The Lebanese Army is deploying in southern Lebanon but at a much slower pace than agreed. And the question is: What to do on day 60?”
Sources added that the Lebanese Army had just begun to clear and seize Hezbollah weapons but was doing so very tentatively and at a slow pace, which could consequently also delay the IDF’s withdrawal.
Ceasefire deal details
Earlier this month, the IDF began to withdraw from some of the deeper areas it had reached, including El-Hiam.The IDF has said Hezbollah has tried to violate the ceasefire conditions around 120 times since it was signed on November 27. The military killed more than 40 Hezbollah terrorists over these violations.
According to sources, the IDF withdrawal is being done in a way that demands that the Lebanese Army control southern Lebanon and keep Hezbollah from returning. This is as critical to the post-war phase as the 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that preceded the ceasefire.
One of the reasons sources said Hezbollah increased its rocket arsenal from more than 10,000 in 2006 to over 150,000 pre-war was that the IDF and Israel were unwilling to endanger the ceasefire when they saw Hezbollah violations in plain sight.
After the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the IDF’s main recourse for Hezbollah violations was to seek intervention by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which generally proved ineffective.
This time, the IDF degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities more seriously and has informal US support for strong military enforcement against any violations by the Lebanese terrorist group.
In the post-October 7 era, the IDF and the government have stood in unison in taking a more proactive stance to preempt potential threats before they materialize to avoid any surprise attacks.
It is not expected that the withdrawal process will drag out more than several months, though the real withdrawal deadline will depend on Hezbollah and Lebanese army actions.
The ceasefire was signed on November 27, initiating the first phase of 60 days. The ceasefire is set to become permanent after that.
The agreement stipulated that during those 60 days, the Lebanese army would deploy in southern Lebanon to operate against Hezbollah, which would then ultimately lead to a full IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Ibrahim Al-Amine, editor-in-chief of Lebanese outlet Al-Akhbar, considered the mouthpiece of Hezbollah, wrote on Saturday, “We must resist the enemy’s violations. The cost of confronting the occupation forces is lower than the cost of relying on what they are doing now.”