US Orders Israel to Withdraw from Lebanon Following Katz Remarks

The US State Department reportedly ordered Israel to stick to its word and pull its troops out of Lebanon after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his forces were “here to stay” in the south of the country.

Under a US-brokered framework signed on June 26, Israel agreed to leave the territory it currently occupies in Southern Lebanon in exchange for the Lebanese government disarming Hezbollah and establishing its own military as the sole armed group in Lebanon. During a visit to the occupied territory on Wednesday, Katz declared that “the IDF is here to stay in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.”

“The United States expects all parties to act in accordance with the framework agreement they have agreed upon, and Israel has clearly stated that it has no territorial aspirations in Lebanon,” a State Department official told Barak Ravid – an Axios reporter whom Israeli politicians and security officials regularly leak to – on Wednesday.

“A permanent Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon is inconsistent with the commitments given in the framework agreement and does not align with the long-term peace and security of both countries,” the official added.

Israel currently occupies roughly 600 square kilometers of southern Lebanon, including some territory north of the Litani River. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have demolished dozens of villages, and the occupation has resulted in the forced expulsion of more than 1.2 million Lebanese civilians.

“I have instructed the IDF to take all necessary steps to prepare for a long-term stay in the field,” Katz said on Wednesday. “As the Prime Minister and I have clearly stated, we are not withdrawing from this security zone… under no circumstances will we withdraw.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that Israel could permanently annex certain areas of southern Lebanon. In an interview with Fox News last month, Netanyahu claimed that some Christian villages in Lebanon “have actually asked to be annexed to Israel because we protect them against the Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them.”

Netanyahu did not name any of the villages, and more than a dozen local Christian leaders in southern Lebanon issued a statement calling his remarks “completely fabricated” and “unrelated to reality.”

Israel’s war on, and occupation of, Lebanon has directly interfered with US-Iran peace talks. The July 17 memorandum of understanding agreed by Washington and Tehran reportedly called for the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” a clause that Israel has not heeded.