IDF withdraws from Lebanon border villages, keeps ‘buffer zone’; Lebanese army deploys
Israeli troops remain in 5 strategic outposts inside southern Lebanon; Katz warns Israel will ‘forcefully’ enforce terms of truce; Lebanon to seek UN’s help on ‘Israeli violations’
The Israel Defense Forces pulled out of southern Lebanese villages but remained in five key positions Tuesday morning, around an hour before the deadline for the withdrawal expired under the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
The IDF did not officially confirm completing the pullout, but the matter was confirmed by observers on both sides. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF was remaining in “a buffer zone,” with “five strategic outposts,” and would enforce the ceasefire “against any violation by Hezbollah.”
“The Israeli army has withdrawn from all border villages except for five points, while the Lebanese army is gradually deploying due to the presence of explosives in some areas and damage to the roads,” a Lebanese security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
The Lebanese Armed Forces said Tuesday morning that it had deployed overnight to several villages and towns in southern Lebanon after the IDF withdrawal.
LAF troops entered Aabbasiyyeh, Majidieh, Kafr Kila, Marjaayoun, Odaisseh, Markaba, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Mahbib, Maroun al-Ras, Yaron, Bint Jbeil, and several other locations near the Israeli border, the Lebanese military said in a statement.
The deployment was being carried out in coordination with a US-led committee supervising the November 27 ceasefire with Israel and the UN observer force UNIFIL, the LAF added.
بتاريخَي ١٧و١٨ /٢ /٢٠٢٥، انتشرت وحدات عسكرية في البلدات التالية:
• العباسية، المجيدية، كفركلا – مرجعيون في القطاع الشرقي.
• العديسة، مركبا، حولا، ميس الجبل، بليدا، محيبيب – مرجعيون في القطاع الأوسط.
• مارون الراس والجزء المتبقي من يارون – بنت جبيل في القطاع الأوسط.… pic.twitter.com/U8pX4Odhxg— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) February 18, 2025
The LAF said engineering units were surveying the areas, opening roads, and safely removing unexploded ordnance left behind from the fighting.
Several local authorities, including Mays al-Jabal’s municipality, have called on displaced residents to wait for the LAF to deploy there before coming back, so as to guarantee their “safe” return.
Israel said it would meet the February 18 deadline to withdraw under a ceasefire but remain deployed in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon.
A spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency said late Tuesday morning that Beirut would consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation and has the right to use all means to ensure an Israeli withdrawal, without mentioning the five posts.
After a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the three leaders said the Lebanese army was ready “to assume all its duties along the… borders,” according to presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine.
She added that Lebanon would also seek the UN Security Council’s help to “address Israeli violations and compel Israel to immediately withdraw.”
In a statement earlier on Tuesday, Katz said the IDF would “forcefully” enforce the terms of the ceasefire deal in Lebanon and act against any Hezbollah threat.
“Starting today, the IDF will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon in five strategic outposts and will continue to enforce [the deal] forcefully and without compromise against any violation by Hezbollah,” he said.
“Hezbollah must withdraw fully beyond the Litani River line and the Lebanese army must enforce and disarm it under the supervision of the mechanism established under the leadership of the US,” Katz added. “We are determined to provide full security to all northern communities.”
Under a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group since early October.
Hezbollah operatives were to leave the zone and Lebanese troops were to deploy in the area within the same period. The original deadline was January 26, but was extended until February 18 as Israel argued Lebanese army deployment was not happening quickly enough.
Last week, the US authorized the IDF to remain in the five points, though it was not clear how long troops would stay there.
The military said on Monday that it was prepared to stay at the posts for a lengthy period, until Hezbollah fully withdraws beyond the Litani River and the Israeli political leadership instructs it to leave.
At the five positions, the IDF constructed military posts that will be manned by troops.
The IDF also ramped up its defenses on the Israeli side of the border, with several new posts, one in front of every Israeli border community; better surveillance capabilities, including more cameras, radars, and sensors; and triple the number of troops compared to before the war.
The ceasefire 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. Some 60,000 Israeli residents of the north were displaced by Hezbollah’s 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.
Should the ceasefire continue to hold after the IDF withdrawal, tens of thousands of displaced residents of northern Israel will begin to return to their homes on March 2.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
