Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker warned on Tuesday that Israeli forces in parts of the country’s south would face resistance if they fail to withdraw, signaling a risk of renewed confrontation ahead of US-mediated talks this week.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah mediated by Washington came into effect on Thursday, but Israeli forces remain deployed in a belt of Lebanese land 5-10 km deep along the entire border. Israel has said it aims to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim terrorist group.
On Thursday, the US will host ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon, which were dragged into war on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran in the regional conflict.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Lebanon’s most senior Shi’ite statesman and a Hezbollah ally, told Lebanese newspaper al-Joumhouria that Lebanon could not tolerate losing a meter of land.
If Israel “maintains its occupation, whether of areas, positions, or by drawing yellow lines, it will smell the scent of resistance every day,” said Berri, leader of the Shi’ite Amal Movement.
The IDF and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both referred to Israel’s deployment line in Lebanon as the “Yellow Line” last week – the same term used by Israel for its deployment line in Gaza. Israeli officials have since refrained from describing it in those terms, instead calling it the “Forward Defense Line,” marked on a military map published on Sunday, which also included a “naval forward defense area” extending from Lebanon’s coast to the sea.
The Israeli military has been carrying out demolitions in southern villages since the ceasefire, saying it is acting against infrastructure embedded by Hezbollah in civilian areas. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday reported new Israeli detonations in at least eight villages. NNA also reported Israeli artillery shelling in several areas.
Buffer zone unnecessary with lasting peace, French source says
“If they insist on remaining, they will face resistance, and our history bears witness to that,” Berri said.
Israel withdrew troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 22 years, during which Hezbollah, Amal, and other terror groups carried out attacks against Israeli forces.
A French presidential source said a lasting solution must be reached and that it could not include the establishment of a permanent buffer zone in southern Lebanon. The zone would no longer be necessary for Israel’s security in the event of a lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel, the source said.
The Lebanon conflict has complicated Pakistan’s efforts to mediate between the US and Iran, with Tehran having demanded that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah be included in any deal on the wider war.
US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire in Lebanon on April 16 after holding separate phone calls with Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
Iran said at the time the ceasefire was part of an understanding reached with the US and mediated by Pakistan.
Washington has said there is no link between the two sets of talks.
The US hosted talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington on April 14, the highest-level contacts between the states in decades, despite strong objections from Hezbollah.
Berri, in his comments to al-Joumhouria, reiterated his view that there was no need for direct talks with Israel, noting that he had been a party to several rounds of indirect negotiations with Israel over the years.
Aoun has listed Israeli withdrawal among the goals of Lebanon’s face-to-face talks with Israel.
His administration has sought Hezbollah’s peaceful disarmament for a year.
Israel has said it wants Hezbollah dismantled.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said that the ultimate goal of the campaign against Hezbollah was to see the group disarmed, by both military and diplomatic means.
“If the Lebanese government continues not to keep its commitment [to disarm Hezbollah], the IDF will do so by continuing its military activity,” Katz said during a ceremony in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu struck a softer tone on Friday, saying that disarming Hezbollah “will not be achieved tomorrow. It requires sustained effort, patience, and endurance, and it requires wise navigation of the diplomatic field.”
Source:
www.jpost.com
