BEIRUT: Lebanon’s powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that Beirut rejected Israel’s demand to remain in five locations in the south after the deadline for fully implementing a ceasefire deal next week.

The United States, a key mediator, “informed me that the Israeli occupation will withdraw from villages it still occupies on February 18, but it will remain in five points,” Hezbollah ally Berri said in a statement.

“I informed them in my name and on behalf of President General Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Judge Nawaf Salam of our absolute rejection” of this proposal,” the statement added.

Earlier, Berri had met with US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson and US Major General Jasper Jeffers.

The American general co-chairs a five-party committee involving the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UN peacekeepers tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with. “I refused to discuss any extension to the deadline for (Israel’s) withdrawal,” Berri said.

“It is the responsibility of the Americans to enforce the withdrawal, otherwise they will have caused the greatest setback for the government”.

On Saturday, Lebanon’s prime minister named a new government, with the weakening of long-dominant Hezbollah bringing to a close a two-year period of rule by caretaker authorities.

The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war.

Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which has been extended until February 18.

Hezbollah was also meant to leave its positions in the south, near the Israeli border, over that period. Both sides have accused each other of ceasefire violations.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2025