Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israeli fighters in southern Lebanon have “full freedom of action” and that he and the defense minister had instructed the army accordingly. But a report aired the same evening on Israel’s Channel 13 said President Donald Trump is now limiting Israel not only in Lebanon, but across several arenas, as U.S. constraints on the IDF and the Israeli government are tightening.
According to the report, Israel’s political leadership has issued formal instructions to the military on what is permitted in Lebanon. Israeli forces may operate inside the “yellow line” and against immediate threats, but they are barred from operating in more distant areas of Beirut and Tyre. A senior Israeli official told Channel 13, “The message we have received in recent weeks from the Americans is clear, you had credit to operate without restriction, and it is over.”
Netanyahu also said in a video released earlier that day that “the instruction from me and the defense minister to the IDF is clear and has not changed: our fighters in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat to them or to the residents of the north. The IDF has no restriction on this matter.” He added, “I stand behind them, the entire nation stands behind them,” and said Israel would remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon “as long as necessary.”
The report said that after the first round of U.S.-Iran talks ended, Qatar and Pakistan announced the creation of a “conflict prevention cell” in Lebanon without Israeli participation. In the joint statement, the mechanism’s purpose was defined as ensuring compliance with the halt to military activity in Lebanon, in line with the memorandum of understanding. Separately, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir held a meeting on Gaza focused on Hamas’s growing strength, where commanders recommended launching an operation to disarm Hamas, subject to political approval, while voicing concern that Trump may block a major move and push for compromise on the weapons issue.
