US envoy Amos Hochstein, visiting Beirut on Monday, said Israeli forces began withdrawing from a south Lebanon border town more than halfway into a fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah.
It is the second such pullout since the ceasefire came into effect on November 27, coming after United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon’s prime minister late last month called on the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from Lebanon’s south.
“The Israeli military started its withdrawal from Naqura… and back into Israel proper today, south of the Blue Line,” Hochstein told reporters, referring to the UN-demarcated boundary between the two countries.
“These withdrawals will continue until all Israeli forces are out of Lebanon completely, and as the Lebanese army continues to deploy into the south and all the way to the Blue Line,” he added after meeting with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.
“I have no reason not to expect that all parties — all parties — will remain committed to implementing the agreement that they agreed to,” he said after meeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and following accusations from Israel and Hezbollah that each side was violating the deal.
Under the terms of the ceasefire that Hochstein helped to broker, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah is to pull its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
The Lebanese military said Monday that “army units have stationed around the town of Naqura… and began deploying there in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,” referring to UNIFIL, whose headquarters is in Naqura.
The deployment came “in parallel with the Israeli enemy’s withdrawal,” the statement said, and coincided “with a meeting of the five-member committee” overseeing the ceasefire that was also attended by Hochstein.
Specialized units will survey Naqura to help remove unexploded ordnance, the army statement added, urging people “not to approach the area.”
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates alongside a UNIFIL representative is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.
Hochstein said he co-chaired the third meeting of the committee on Monday together with United States Major General Jasper Jeffers, adding that “the mechanism is working well.”
He said that while the ceasefire implementation may not have proceeded “as quickly as some wanted… what I heard in Naqura today gives me hope that we’re on the right track.”
IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani has said Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese towns has been slower than anticipated because of a lack of Lebanese army troops ready to take over.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday accused Hezbollah of not withdrawing beyond the Litani River as stipulated, and of not meeting other terms of the ceasefire after Hezbollah accused Israel of violations.
On December 11, Lebanon’s army said it deployed around the border town of Khiam in coordination with UNIFIL, also following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.
The US military said it was the first such Israeli force withdrawal and subsequent Lebanese army deployment under the ceasefire.
During Monday’s visit — his first visit since the truce — Hochstein also urged political consensus in Lebanon ahead of a presidential vote this week.
Lebanon has been without a president for more than two years amid bitter divisions between Hezbollah and its opponents.
“These are critical times for Lebanon… not just to implement this agreement, but to come to a political consensus, to focus on Lebanon for Lebanese people,” he said ahead of Thursday’s vote.
“This is an opportunity… to really just focus on rebuilding the economy,” on implementing “reforms that will allow for investment, and returning the country to economic growth and prosperity for all,” Hochstein added.
The Lebanese army said Hochstein and Jeffers also met with army commander Joseph Aoun on Monday, discussing the ceasefire.
Aoun’s name has been floated as a potential presidential candidate.
Also on Monday, Avigdor Liberman, who heads the Yisrael Beytenu opposition party, visited the northern border town of Metula, where he called for the establishment of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, arguing that “any other step is a Band-Aid on a bleeding wound.”
The ceasefire agreement currently being implemented by Israel in Lebanon “endangers the residents of the north,” Liberman declared, arguing that “the Lebanese army has no control over the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border and has no intention of disarming Hezbollah.
“In practice, Hezbollah is strengthening again, returning forces to the line of contact, producing missiles inside Lebanon and continuing smuggling weapons,” he asserts, adding that only a security zone will be able to “prevent anti-tank fire and tunnels.”
“Hezbollah will continue to grow stronger, and the citizens of Israel will continue to live under constant threat. The time has come for action, not talk,” said Liberman.
Katz warned Sunday that Israel will be “forced to act” if Hezbollah does not pull back from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel Sunday that Israel was recently signaling it could remain in Lebanon after the initial 60-day ceasefire to pressure the Lebanese Armed Forces to fulfill their obligations before the period ends.
Israel would very much prefer to have the Lebanese army deploy across southern Lebanon and ensure that Hezbollah retreats fully from the area, the official clarified.
The IDF, meanwhile, has continued to carry out strikes against Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in south Lebanon. It has denied violating the terms of the agreement, saying that the strikes have targeted Hezbollah’s own violations.
In a Saturday speech, Hezbollah’s new chief Naim Qassem threatened that its “patience may run out” with Israeli behavior even before the end of the 60-day withdrawal period stipulated in the November truce agreement.
The war in Lebanon was sparked when Hezbollah, unprovoked, began firing at Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023, a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, starting the war in Gaza.
Israel escalated the campaign against the terror group in September 2024, decimating its leadership and much of its capabilities, in a bid to end the persistent rocket fire that had displaced some 60,000 northerners.