The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) redeployed Tuesday in accord with the ceasefire deal that ended the war with Hezbollah — though Lebanon is formally objecting to Israel retaining a “buffer zone.”
As Breitbart News noted Monday, the IDF intends to hold five positions along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel to monitor Hezbollah’s compliance with the agreement, and to ensure that it withdraws north of the Litani River.
Hezbollah was already supposed to withdraw north of the Litani under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
However, that resolution was never properly enforced by the United Nations or by Lebanon, and Hezbollah expanded its presence in southern Lebanon, turning the area into a forward base for attacks against Israel. The Israeli government is determined not to allow that to happen again.
Lebanon has said that it intends to complain to the United Nations about the five Israeli outposts, which it calls an “occupation.” The United Nations is siding with Lebanon, saying that the five IDF positions represent a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
However, the United Nations is also stressing the fact that both sides have complied with the agreement in every other way, hoping to discourage a return to the war that Hezbollah started in October 2023.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
