IDF to Release Northern Home Guard Units as Ceasefire Takes Hold

The IDF informed northern community defense squads on Monday that they will be released from service starting Sunday, following the ceasefire and a revised security assessment. The move comes hours after restrictions were lifted for communities on the confrontation line, and after the Defense Ministry recognized nine more northern communities as confrontation-line towns.

According to the report, the decision covers defense platoons and their commanders, who will be sent home as the army shifts the area to the “green” defense posture, meaning full routine. Preparatory days are set to begin Thursday, with all personnel in the home guard and defense platoons in the region to be released on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the creation of a “deconfliction” mechanism in Lebanon that excludes Israel, “the IDF has full freedom of action in southern Lebanon.” He added, “The instruction from me and the defense minister to the IDF is clear and has not changed.”

Netanyahu said Israeli fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom to stop any direct or developing threat against them or against northern residents, and that the IDF faces no restrictions on the matter. He also said Israel will remain in the security buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect northern residents and all Israeli citizens.