File Photo: An Israeli patrol near the Lebanese-Israeli border. AFP
According to Israel's public broadcaster, citing informed sources, Israeli military officials delayed the planned withdrawal from the occupied southern Lebanese towns of Zawtar and Frun "pending agreement on a joint monitoring mechanism between the Israeli and Lebanese militaries."
The mechanism would oversee the implementation of the security annex to the US-brokered framework agreement signed in Washington last Friday.
The report said the United States would approve officials participating in the mechanism "to ensure that Hezbollah does not gain access to sensitive information being exchanged."
The sources added that Israeli forces would not begin withdrawing until "clear benchmarks" are established, requiring the Lebanese army to take "concrete and immediate action against Hezbollah."
The reported delay came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israeli occupation forces would remain in southern Lebanon until Israel determines the security threat posed by Hezbollah has been eliminated.
During a visit to occupied southern Lebanon on Tuesday with Defence Minister Israel Katz and Deputy Chief of Staff Tamir Yadai, Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 14 that Israeli forces "will not withdraw from southern Lebanon as long as Hezbollah poses a threat."
On 26 June, Israel and Lebanon signed a US-brokered framework agreement providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, beginning with two pilot areas.
The agreement, however, sets no binding timetable for Israel's withdrawal from either the initial pilot areas or all Lebanese territory. It conditions further withdrawals on the Lebanese Armed Forces assuming full security responsibility in evacuated areas and disarming all non-state armed groups, a reference to Hezbollah.
Moreover, a security annex to the agreement, disclosed on Tuesday, revealed that the framework would allow Israeli occupation forces to maintain a military presence in a 10-kilometre (six-mile) border zone in southern Lebanon for an indefinite period.
According to media reports, the annex also allows Israel to continue military operations, including airstrikes, inside Lebanon if it unilaterally determines that a security threat persists. It grants Israel and the United States exclusive authority to assess whether Lebanon's disarmament obligations have been fulfilled.
The annex further bars residents of towns located within the Israeli-declared security zone from returning to their homes until further notice, affecting hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians.
The deal has drawn widespread criticism in Lebanon, with opponents warning that it could entrench Israel's military presence in recently occupied areas while providing legal and political cover for an extended occupation.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem condemned the agreement as "humiliating, shameful, and a surrender of sovereignty," vowing that the group would continue armed resistance until Israel ends its occupation.
Critics of the agreement also argue that it effectively deprives Lebanon of the ability to pursue international legal action, reparations, or accountability for Israeli war crimes and damage to civilian infrastructure.
Despite the diplomatic initiative, intermittent Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire have continued across several areas of Lebanon.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the death toll from the war with Israel has risen to 4,278, while 12,196 people have been wounded since 2 March.
The Israeli attacks in Lebanon have displaced nearly 1.4 million people, triggering one of Lebanon's largest humanitarian crises in recent years.
Israeli occupation forces are currently operating inside a self-declared "security zone" extending roughly 10 kilometres (six miles) into southern Lebanon along the border.
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