Under the November 27 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Israel is to withdraw all of its troops from southern Lebanon within 60 days. Today, however, officials said Israel may miss that deadline, evidenced by how few troops have left Lebanon so far.
These statements to the Israeli press shift the blame for the slow pullout to the Lebanese military, saying it is deploying into southern Lebanon too slowly. Per the ceasefire, Lebanon also has 60 days to put troops in the south, which, in contradiction to Israel, the US believes will be accomplished in 50 days.
Lebanese PM Najib Mikati has called on the US and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to do something to speed up the Israeli pullout, saying that they “need to put an end to this Israeli procrastination.”
Mikati isn’t the only one concerned about the sluggish situation. The UNIFIL peacekeepers issued a statement calling for an accelerated Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. They said they want to see accelerated progress in both Israel leaving and Lebanese military forces arriving in the south.
Israel’s repeated and ongoing violations of the ceasefire are undoubtedly a big reason as to why the Lebanese people want Israel out soon. On Sunday Israeli forces blew up several homes in Hanin, along with attacks on other towns and villages across the south. At least 286 Israeli ceasefire violations have occurred since the ceasefire began, killing no less than 30 people.
Overnight, Israel also carried out an airstrike on the village of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, killing two people and wounding another. This strike took place near the local public school. However, the highest profile violations were probably those in the southern border town of Naqoura.
In Naqoura, Israeli troops entered the town and raised an Israeli flag at the entrance, even though it is plainly on the Lebanese side of the border. Days earlier, Israeli artillery fire had destroyed a number of civilian homes in the town, as it has in so many places where fire was supposed to be ceased.
UNIFIL’s statement on the withdrawal acceleration today reiterated a call for all sides to stop violating the ceasefire. In general, the meaningful violations have come from the Israeli side, though Israel has claimed the presence of cars in southern Lebanon is a violation in and of itself and justifies IDF fire.
Israel has also reiterated that residents must not attempt to return home to southern villages along the border from Mansouri to Sheeba. Those villages are not directly on the border, but a few kilometers north. Mansouri, for instance, is several kilometers north of Naqoura, which sits more directly alongside the Blue Line between the two nations.
