Israel targets southern Lebanon; Netanyahu says army not leaving until Sunday | Israel attacked Lebanon News
According to the cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah, Israeli forces were to withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon by January 26.
The withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon will continue beyond the 60 days agreed in the ceasefire agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, claiming that Lebanon has not yet fully implemented the agreement.
The statement, issued on Friday, came after the Israeli army attacked towns in southern Lebanon, remaining involved in “extensive military operations” in the border area just two days before it was due to withdraw troops under a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday that Israeli forces were rampaging across the south, bulldozing and burning houses in the town of Aitaroun, damaging a mosque in the town of Qantara and causing a “violent explosion” in Rab Thalathin.
The continued military strikes came amid Israeli media reports earlier Friday that Netanyahu’s government was looking for ways to keep troops in Lebanon outside deadline prescribed in cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah.
According to the agreement signed in November, Israeli forces were to withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon within a period of 60 days ending on January 26.
Hebrew media outlet Ynet reported on Friday that Israel had asked the new United States administration to extend the deadline, arguing that the Lebanese army had deployed southward too slowly, allowing Hezbollah to regroup.
National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who left the country’s wartime government last year, was quoted in the report as saying the military should continue to “intensify operations against any violation by Hezbollah – minor or serious.”
A United Nations source told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces had withdrawn from large parts of the western and central areas of southern Lebanon, with ground data suggesting they were preparing to hold points in the eastern part.
The news comes after Lebanese residents returned to their villages in the south only to find them destroyed.
The Lebanese army has asked residents of the coastal town of Naqour not to return home for their own safety, given the trail of destruction left by the departing Israeli forces.
“Naqoura has become a disaster zone in the city … there are no basic necessities of life here,” said Mayor Abbas Awada, who returned to check on the situation in his city.
The mayor said that Naqouri needed “at least three years” to rebuild and that he was concerned that a lack of funds, after years of economic crisis, would hamper the rebuilding.
