BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said on Saturday it was ready to deploy its forces in the country’s south, accusing Israel of “procrastination” in its withdrawal under a ceasefire, a day before the pullout deadline.

Under the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that came into effect on November 27, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period that ends on Sunday.

Hezbollah is to pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

“There has been a delay at a number of stages as a result of the procrastination in the withdrawal from the Israeli enemy’s side,” the army said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne­­tanyahu’s office said on Friday that the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.

The accusation from the Lebanese army comes after UN chief Antonio Guterres called on January 17 for Isr­a­­el to end its “occupation” of the south.

In a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Leba­non’s new President Joseph Aoun spoke of the “need to oblige Israel to respect the terms of the deal in order to maintain stability in the south,” his office said.

Aoun said last week that Israel must “withdraw from occupied territories in the south within the deadline set by the agreement reached on November 27”.

Lebanon’s army urged people to “be cautious in heading back to the southern border areas, due to the presence of mines and suspicious objects left behind” by Israeli forces.

Lebanese state news agency NNA reported that some people displaced from border areas had received international calls, purportedly from an Israeli military spokesperson, warning them not to return home.

It said several border villages had been sealed off by the Israeli army while troops carried out demolitions. It reported one resident wounded by Israeli fire.

A Lebanese government source told AFP that “caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati contacted the new US administration, warned of the gravity of Israel’s attempt to circumvent the implementation of the ceasefire, and stressed the need to respect deadlines”.

A Lebanese military source said Israeli forces had “completed their withdrawal from the western sector” of the south in early January, but “have not completed their withdrawal from the eastern sector as their withdrawal from the middle sector was delayed”.

‘Flagrant violation’

Hezbollah began exchanging low-intensity cross-border fire with the Israeli army the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas which triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel intensified its campaign aga­inst Hezbollah in September, lau­n­c­h­ing a series of devastating blows aga­inst the group’s leadership that saw its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah killed in an air strike in Beirut.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025