Israel and Lebanon extend truce, with IDF troop withdrawal deadline moved to Feb. 18
Hezbollah said to call on Lebanese civilians to provoke clashes with IDF; Katz warns truce violators on northern or southern borders will ‘pay the full price’
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to depart southern Lebanon until February 18, after the 60-day deadline stipulated in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November passed on Sunday and Israel requested more time.
Israel has said that it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all areas of southern Lebanon, as agreed, to ensure that terror group Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence there. The Lebanese army has said it cannot deploy until Israeli forces withdraw.
The White House said in a statement Sunday that “the arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025.” It added that the respective governments “will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023.”
Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, with rocket and drones one day after its ally Hamas attacked Israel in the south in a devastating onslaught.
US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff said in response to the announcement that “the Israeli government was great, they’re a great partner of the United States, they’re a principled ally for us, and they’ve done pretty good work over in Lebanon.”
Speaking to reporters he said that if the developments are any indication of the two sides’ ability to overcome “blips,” there is reason to be positive about the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire holding further.
Announcement of the extension came the day the deadline passed for Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon.
There was no specific comment from the Israeli government but Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media platform X that “we will continue to vigorously enforce the ceasefires in the north and south. Anyone who violates the rules or who threatens the IDF — will pay the full price.”
Katz was referring as well to a ceasefire in the Gaza war that began last Sunday and that has also seen bumps along its path in the past few days.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also confirmed the extension of the Lebanon ceasefire.
After talks with the US, Mikati said Monday the government would “continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025.”
However, Hezbollah has reportedly rejected the extension and is urging south Lebanese residents to continue confrontations with the IDF. Deadly clashes took place Sunday when hundreds of Lebanese marched on Israeli soldiers, many of them carrying Hezbollah banners, ignoring warning shots and calls to turn back. Lebanese health officials said Israeli soldiers killed 22 people in the violence.
The Al-Akhbar outlet, considered a mouthpiece for Hezbollah, wrote Monday that “what happened yesterday will be completed today, with more popular crowds, from the people of the border villages…where people will not wait for permission to complete the process of removing the occupation forces from the last sites they still occupy.”
Sources told the outlet that Hezbollah informed aligned Lebanese lawmaker Mohammad Raad that it “does not participate in any internal or external communications regarding extending the 60-day period, and that it adheres to the text of the agreement and the necessity of the enemy’s withdrawal without any delay.”
The November 27 deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of lower-intensity exchanges. Hezbollah began near-daily attacks on northern Israel one day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israeli residents of the north were displaced by the attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the country.
Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah before launching a ground invasion in southern Lebanon aimed at securing the border and enabling the return of displaced Israelis.
Hezbollah, badly weakened by Israel during the war, has put the onus on the Lebanese state to ensure the IDF’s withdrawal, describing Israel’s failure to leave southern Lebanon by the deadline as a violation of the agreement.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. The Lebanese military was to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew.
Israel’s military says its forces have continued to uncover and seize Hezbollah weapons in prohibited areas and that the Lebanese army is not keeping to its part of the deal.
