Ahead of expected truce, Israel vows to act forcefully to stop Hezbollah regrouping

As the government was gearing up to greenlight a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Tuesday to intervene militarily at even the smallest infraction, including stopping the Iran-backed terror group from rearming near the Israeli border.

“We will act against any threat, anytime and anywhere,” Katz told UN Special Envoy for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement by his office.

The comment underlined Israeli jitters that a ceasefire deal set to be implemented in the coming days would prove ineffective at securing the frontier after years in which UN observers and the international community failed to keep the group from building up a military presence in southern Lebanon.

Dismissing Israeli concerns Tuesday morning, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Jerusalem should be pressured to accept the deal, asserting that it has all the necessary security guarantees for the Jewish state.

“Let’s hope that today, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu will approve the ceasefire agreement proposed by the US and France,” Josep Borrell told a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy, criticizing hardline Israeli ministers who have spoken against the deal. “No more excuses. No more additional requests.”

Katz met in Tel Aviv with Hennis-Plasschaert hours before the security cabinet was expected to approve a 60-day ceasefire, ending nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of intense battle.

Israel has long complained about the failure to uphold UN Resolution 1701, which was implemented in 2006 and prohibited Hezbollah or any other armed group aside from the Lebanese army from maintaining a military presence within some 30 kilometers of the border with Israel.

In reality, Hezbollah continued to operate extensively in southern Lebanon, building tunnels near the border, storing weapons, firing rockets and missiles at Israel, and preparing a mass invasion into Israeli territory days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in the south, which was eventually foiled, according to Israel.

For the last two months, Israel has attempted to pare back Hezbollah’s hold on southern Lebanon, waging a campaign of aerial bombardments and a limited ground incursion that saw soldiers search villages for rockets and other arms held by the terror group.

“Every house in southern Lebanon that is rebuilt and in which a terrorist base is established will be demolished, every rearming and regrouping by terrorists will be attacked, every attempt to smuggle weapons will be thwarted, and every threat to our forces or Israeli citizens will be immediately destroyed,” Katz warned.

He also demanded “effective enforcement” from UNIFIL, the international peacekeeping organization in Lebanon, which Israel charges has failed miserably in its central mission — keeping southern Lebanon free of military threats to Israel.

UNIFIL argues that it is merely an observer force, placing the onus on the Lebanese army, which is seen as poorer and less powerful than the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The international community has sought guarantees to help beef up the Lebanese army so it can more effectively rein in Hezbollah.

The agreement set to be approved Tuesday requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon’s army to deploy in the region — a Hezbollah stronghold — within 60 days, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Tuesday he hoped the ceasefire deal would be approved later in the day, adding that the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw.

He added that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.

In his meeting with the UN official, Katz stressed that the implementation of the ceasefire must include effective enforcement and oversight, including preventing arms smuggling and domestic arms production by Hezbollah.

Katz emphasized that Israel would show “zero tolerance” for violations of the ceasefire.

“If you don’t do it, we will,” he told the UN official, “and with great force.”

Separately, Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said it was filing a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over what it said was Israel’s “continued and deliberate” targeting of Lebanese forces since the start of the war, dating back to October 8, 2023.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel the day after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught in southern Israel, in support of its fellow Iran-backed terror group, drawing Israeli reprisals and leading to the displacement of some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. Fighting intensified in late September, with Israel killing much of Hezbollah’s leadership and launching a limited ground incursion on October 1.

According to Lebanon, Israeli strikes since November 17 have killed 10 soldiers and wounded 35 more.

“Lebanon called on the member states of the Security Council to condemn the repeated Israeli attacks on the army,” said the ministry, “and consider them a flagrant violation of international law, the UN Charter, and international resolutions, especially Resolution 1701.”

It also said the incidents “constitute a clear message from Israel rejecting any initiatives for a solution, and its insistence on military escalation instead of diplomacy.”

After a deadly strike on a Lebanese army post earlier this week, the IDF apologized, saying it “regrets the incident and clarifies that it is fighting in a targeted manner against the Hezbollah terror organization, and not against the Lebanese army.”

Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a proposed ceasefire deal, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said Tuesday.

“It is extremely sensitive and I do not want to go into details about it because of the sensitivity of the issue,” Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem.

She did not give an exact time for the meeting.

“There needs to be a decision, a discussion,” she said. “There might be a vote as well.”

“The members of the cabinet know some of the details and are going to go into more details this afternoon.”

An Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday that the 60-day ceasefire set to be approved was a cessation of hostilities, but not an end to the war.

“We don’t know how long it will last,” the official said of the ceasefire. “It could be a month, it could be a year.”

While far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has criticized the deal and indicated he will vote against it, he said in an interview with Radio 103FM on Tuesday that he would not bring down the government over the issue.

Local mayors in the north and other observers have similarly been mounting pressure on the government not to approve the agreement, calling it a “surrender.”