Israel and Lebanon Sign Framework Deal Linking Israeli Withdrawal to Hezbollah Disarmament

Hezbollah’s leader on Saturday criticized a framework agreement that Israel and Lebanon signed a day earlier to end months of conflict between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel, raising doubts about whether it would work. The agreement, signed Friday in Washington, links Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament, which the group rejects.

Several earlier ceasefire agreements that Lebanon had negotiated with Israel since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began were never carried out on the ground. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since March, when Hezbollah fired at Israel two days after the Iran war began. The talks between Israel and Lebanon were separate from an interim deal that the United States and Iran signed earlier this month.

In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group would keep fighting until Israel was forced to leave Lebanon. Supporters of the group protested in the streets of Beirut after the agreement was announced.

The Lebanese state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh despite the deal. It also reported that Israel’s military had released three Lebanese and three Syrian workers who were taken near the southern village of Ain Arab on Friday.

Details of the agreement released by the U.S. State Department on Saturday say Lebanon and Israel aim to eventually end the state of war between them that began when Israel was created in 1948. The deal calls for Israel to initially withdraw from two small areas, called pilot zones, which the agreement does not identify. The Lebanese army would gradually assume full security responsibility over those areas, and the countries would agree on future pilot zones. A security annex covering the deployment of Lebanese troops and redeployments of Israeli troops has not been made public. Pursuing a lasting end to hostilities through negotiation, a call to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

According to the agreement, Israel stresses that Hezbollah’s disarmament throughout Lebanon, along with additional security measures to be agreed between the countries, would eliminate any future need for Israeli military action or presence in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon “until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon.” He said the two agreed zones would serve as a “pilot program for disarming Hezbollah and transferring the territory to the control of the Lebanese army,” and that Israel’s military had already withdrawn from one of them.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military had been instructed “to prepare for an extended stay.” He called the agreement a “humiliation” and described linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament as a “very dangerous suggestion.”

Hezbollah official Hassan Fadlallah warned that the deal could result in civil war, because Hezbollah would not give up its weapons and would resist any measures taken by the Lebanese army.

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