US Official Says Israel Pulled Back From Parts of South Lebanon, Lebanese Army to Move In

A senior U.S. State Department official told Reuters that Israel has withdrawn from part of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, and that the Lebanese army is now expected to deploy in the area vacated by the Israel Defense Forces. The official said the Israeli pullback is a goodwill gesture toward Lebanon’s government.

The report comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would keep its buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as he remained prime minister. According to the article, U.S. pressure ultimately prevailed.

The move is described as significant because Israel’s continued military activity in southern Lebanon had increasingly threatened an already fragile ceasefire involving the U.S. and Iran. That truce was meant to cool tensions across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, but repeated Israeli strikes in parts of southern Lebanon drew criticism from Tehran and raised fears that the ceasefire could collapse. Iran has been demanding an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

The IDF denied Reuters’ report that it had withdrawn from southern Lebanon. A military spokesperson said, “No force has moved from anywhere. We have not received any instruction from the political echelon at this stage.”