Israel Weighs Limited Pullbacks in South Lebanon Before Washington Talks

Israel is considering limited withdrawals from parts of southern Lebanon, including the Beaufort area, ahead of the next round of talks with Lebanon in Washington on Tuesday. Israeli officials stressed that no American request to pull back the IDF has been received so far, and that staying on the “yellow line” remains a red line.

The issue was discussed in a series of consultations over the past day in the security establishment and political leadership, alongside contacts between Jerusalem and Washington at all levels. According to people familiar with the talks, the idea under review is to make “small withdrawals” from areas where the IDF operates beyond the 10-kilometer line, with a split inside Israel over whether Beaufort, which carries symbolic weight, should be retained or evacuated to signal a diplomatic initiative toward Lebanon.

The IDF continued operating in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Division 91 exposed what it described as a strategic underground Hezbollah site in the village of Majdal Zoun, about 10 kilometers from the Israeli border, an area reached for the first time during the operation. The army said the site was part of infrastructure used to launch drones at Israel.

Israeli officials want any change in force deployment to be presented as an Israeli initiative and part of dialogue with the Lebanese government, not as a move driven by pressure or by Iranian dictates. The upcoming Washington round continues the process opened last month through U.S. mediation, when Israel sought to link any further withdrawal from southern Lebanon to concrete action by the Lebanese army against Hezbollah. U.S. officials said last week that Washington is not demanding an Israeli pullout from the yellow line as a condition for agreements.

In a Fox News interview, President Isaac Herzog said Israel seeks a political settlement with Lebanon, but added, “You cannot talk about peace when Hezbollah kidnapped Lebanon,” calling to remove Iran from the equation and disarm the group. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who met Tuesday ahead of the Washington talks, repeated their demand for a permanent ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, deployment of the Lebanese army to the border, and the start of reconstruction.