Annex in Israel-Lebanon deal conditions further IDF withdrawals on results, not time

The Israel-Lebanon framework agreement, signed last week, conditions future IDF withdrawals from Lebanon on the verifiable disarmament of Hezbollah, as opposed to a pre-determined timeline.

“Pending successful completion of an agreed-upon and verifiable disarmament and dismantlement process, Israel commits to a phased, conditions-based, progressive reduction and eventual redeployment of its forces from Lebanese territory, planned and sequenced through the [Military Coordination Group for Lebanon], to coincide with LAF deployment,” states the text of the annex, obtained by The Times of Israel on Monday.

Israel pushed for such a clause to be included to avoid being pressured into subsequent withdrawals from Lebanon before Hezbollah is sufficiently neutered.

The above text of the security annex of the deal reached in Washington, DC, also suggests that there will be no automatic IDF withdrawals, though Jerusalem remains wary that pressure from Tehran could derail the agreement, according to an unsourced Channel 12 report from Sunday night.

The security annex, referenced in the published text of the agreement, has been kept classified at the request of the Lebanese government, Channel 12 claimed.

Israel’s current assessment is that the pilot withdrawals, under which the Lebanese army will enter those initial two designated areas after training and vetting, will take several weeks to implement, while the Lebanese forces prepare to assume responsibility there, according to Channel 12.

Israeli officials remain concerned that Iran could seek to undermine the arrangement through its parallel talks with Washington, pressing the US to demand a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon as part of a broader US-Iran agreement, the Channel 12 report said.

The framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon aims to pave the way for an eventual peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries. It includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of some small areas currently held by Israeli troops, and includes a process aimed at disarming Hezbollah. Hezbollah swiftly rejected the agreement, claiming that it reserves the right to self-defense, and Israel has said it will continue to take action against the Iran-backed terror group.

In a statement on Sunday, Hezbollah said that several clashes with Israeli troops over the weekend, including one in which an IDF officer was killed, were a “blatant violation of the ceasefire to which it [Hezbollah] has adhered until now,” and that it was “monitoring and tracking these violations, and reserves its right to defend its homeland and its people.”

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Sunday said the agreement signed with Lebanon is “historic and significant,” and that the military achievements “are what created the conditions for it.”

“We will honor the agreement and work to ensure its success. The test now is one of action by both sides, and the coming period will determine the future,” he said, according to remarks provided by the military.

Zamir visited the Northern Command to approve plans for future operations in Lebanon, as the IDF is set to partially withdraw as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned of “internal conflict” in Lebanon over the agreement, which his group rejects, predicting that the deal would not be implemented.

Fadlallah spoke a day after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told US President Donald Trump in a phone call that the Lebanese state “will assume its responsibilities” in implementing the framework agreement, but made no mention of Hezbollah or disarming the terrorist group.

Like Fadlallah, Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri said that the trilateral framework agreement would not pass as it doesn’t guarantee Lebanon’s rights.

“This agreement will not pass, and it will not be implemented in its current form,” Berri said in a statement shared by his party, the Amal movement, adding that it was “an agreement of ‘dictates,’ not an agreement that preserves Lebanon’s rights.”

Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its Iranian sponsors, as the Islamic Republic came under US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, where its troops hold swaths of territory and have been demolishing many homes and other buildings, saying the infrastructure was being used by Hezbollah as it built its forces along the Israeli border.

IDF destroys 200-meter-long facility, 25 meters underground

Separately, the IDF demolished a large Hezbollah underground facility in the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Zoun on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced.

The tunnel, which ran some 200 meters and reached depths of over 25 meters under the village, was used by Hezbollah to assemble, store, and launch Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the military.

Journalists were given a tour of the tunnel earlier this month.

In a statement, Netanyahu and Katz said that Israel updated the US and the American representative in Lebanon ahead of the tunnel’s demolition and had warned residents of northern Israel earlier that a large explosion would be heard.

The IDF later released video of the demolition.

The IDF publishes footage showing the demolition of a major Hezbollah tunnel under the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Zoun this evening. pic.twitter.com/ZvQmkHXPY3

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 28, 2026

The IDF had previously postponed the tunnel’s demolition following pressure by the US on Israel to halt all military activity in southern Lebanon amid the ceasefire.