Lebanon warns it may use 'all means' to force full Israeli withdrawal

Lebanon said it reserved the right to use all available means to expel occupying Israeli forces, after the Israelis remained at five strategic locations in the south despite the deadline for them to withdraw expiring on Tuesday.

President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Lebanon would lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council to compel all Israeli troops to leave the country.

“The attendees affirm the Lebanese state’s adherence to its full national rights and sovereignty over all its territories, and the affirmation of Lebanon’s right to adopt all means to withdraw the Israeli enemy,” the statement said.

A Western diplomatic source told The National that Israel's occupation of the five locations was expected to be “temporary” and that negotiations were continuing. Lebanon's presidency said that it was in touch with France and the US to ensure a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces.

“It is a leverage tool serving an internal Israeli political objective”, primarily to reassure the residents of northern Israel who are supposed to return to their homes next month, the diplomat said.

"The move follows a logic of conditional withdrawal from Israel – we pull out when we feel reassured,” they added, while stressing that the bases are “temporary operational bases that can be easily dismantled".

“This is not about establishing settlements," the diplomat said. Under a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, Israel was supposed to complete its withdrawal over a 60-day period ending in January, but the deadline was extended to February 18.

Israel already holds the upper hand in the ceasefire deal, the diplomat said, having signed a side agreement with the US. The secret deal, which serves as a guarantee for Israel, allows it to strike at any perceived Hezbollah threats in Lebanese territory.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz pledged decisive action against any Hezbollah breach of the ceasefire conditions. “Israel will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon with five control positions and will continue to act forcefully and uncompromisingly against any Hezbollah violation,” he said on Tuesday.

The UN’s special co-ordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and peacekeeping head of mission and force commander Lt Gen Aroldo Lazaro said “any delay” in Israel’s withdrawal breaches UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 and serves as the base for the current ceasefire.

“Today marks the end of the period set for the withdrawal of the Israel Defence Forces south of the Blue Line and the parallel Lebanese Armed Forces deployment to positions in southern Lebanon, as envisaged by the Cessation of Hostilities Understanding of 26 November 2024,” the statement said.

“Another delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen, not least because it continues a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.”

On Monday, hours before the revised deadline, Israel's military said it would maintain a presence at the five locations to “continue to defend our residents and to make sure there's no immediate threat”.

“Based on the current situation, we will leave small numbers of troops temporarily in five strategic points,” Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said.

The five locations are Hammams Hill, Awaida Hill, Jabal Balat, Labouna and Al Aziyah. These high-altitude spots give Israeli forces a broad vantage point over the border region.

Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese military moved into towns and villages on Tuesday after they were vacated by the Israelis.

Lebanon's army said it sent troops to about 10 towns and villages as well as “other border sites in the southern Litani area”.

“At dawn, enemy forces withdrew from the villages and towns they had occupied in the south, including Yaroun, Maroun Al Ras, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Houla, Markaba, Adaisseh, Kfar Kila and Al Wazzani,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanese engineering teams were sent to clear unexploded Israeli munitions and remove roadblocks, while UN peacekeepers have begun patrolling villages and setting up positions alongside the Lebanese army, the agency said.

President Aoun on Monday called on the US and France, which helped broker the ceasefire, to pressure Israel to fully withdraw and implement the agreement.

“We fear that a complete withdrawal will not be achieved tomorrow,” Mr Aoun had said before the Israeli military’s announcement. The Lebanese army was ready to station troops to “protect the border”, he added.

“The important thing is to secure Israel's withdrawal,” Mr Aoun said. “Hezbollah's weapons are part of broader solutions that Lebanese factions must agree on.”

The impossible return

Residents from southern Lebanon were heading en masse back to their villages on Tuesday to check on their homes after the withdrawal of the Israeli army. In the border town of Houla, some said they were shocked by the extent of the destruction.

“It’s a disaster. Our village is completely devastated,” Ghanwa Ziad, a member of the Houla municipality, told The National over the phone.

He said there were mixed feelings in Houla – joy and pride in returning after months of war, but also sorrow over the large numbers of deaths.

On Tuesday, the Civil Defence was eventually able to reach the village after months of Israeli occupation and comb through the rubble, searching for the 23 people still missing under the debris.

Israeli strikes have destroyed all essential infrastructure, including the school, the water tank, the electricity network and the municipality building, Mr Ziad said. “More than 50 per cent of the buildings are completely destroyed,” he added. “Only about 10 per cent are still inhabitable. It makes returning very difficult.”

Human Rights Watch has denounced Israel's “deliberate” demolition of civilian homes and infrastructure in southern Lebanon, preventing tens of thousands of Lebanese to return to their villages.

Iran-backed Hezbollah reached the ceasefire deal with Israel in November after 14 months of hostilities that saw Israel launch a ground offensive into Lebanon. Under the deal, Hezbollah is supposed to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south.

Lebanon’s government has since said the state should be the sole bearer of arms and has pledged to regain “all Lebanese territory”.

Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure Israel met the Tuesday withdrawal deadline.