Netanyahu vows to keep IDF troops in Lebanon amid US, Iranian pressure

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stresses that Israeli troops will not withdraw from southern Lebanon and will maintain its security zone there as long as required, after US President Donald Trump this week publicly criticized Israeli fighting against Hezbollah as overly aggressive and as Iran continues to insist that a full Israeli withdrawal is a condition of its deal with Washington.

“We will restore security and prosperity to northern towns,” he says at an official ceremony concerning Route 60, a north-south highway stretching from Nazareth to Beersheba that runs through the West Bank. “That requires maintaining the security zone in southern Lebanon; it requires that we not leave there, as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”

The memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran yesterday, to which Israel is not a signatory, dictated an end to all hostilities in Lebanon.

A senior Israeli official close to Netanyahu told Reuters earlier today that Jerusalem is “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon. The IDF later published an updated map of its security zone in the country, saying it will not be withdrawing from the territory at this stage.