The emerging ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization includes the following principles, Israel Hayom has learned:
Hezbollah will withdraw its forces north of the Litani River and will not renew its military presence in the area between the Litani and the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Israel Defense Forces will pull back from Hezbollah’s current first line of positions in Lebanon, returning to the international border. The Lebanese army will dismantle Hezbollah’s remaining infrastructure in the area between the border and the Litani within 60 days of signing the agreement.
The agreement will include international guarantees from the United States and Russia to prevent Hezbollah from rearming. As part of this framework, Syria will be responsible for stopping any weapons transfers from its territory to Lebanon, in contrast to the situation that prevailed in the years before the war.
In any instance of a violation of the agreement—whether by Hezbollah’s rearming or military actions against Israel or Israelis—the IDF will have the right to act in response, with international backing.
Israel Hayom has also learned that Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will depart for Russia, as previously reported by Army Radio, and then to the United States to finalize the remaining details of the agreement. Among other meetings, he is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.
On Saturday night, a senior government official confirmed to Israel Hayom that substantial progress had been made in diplomatic negotiations on the northern front.
According to the official, the agreement under discussion is very favorable for Israel and optimally addresses its interests. The progress made is “very real,” the official said, though he declined to disclose specific details.
For its part, Hezbollah said that it has not received any official ceasefire proposal, Reuters reported on Monday.
“So far, according to my information, nothing official has reached Lebanon or us in this regard,” the head of the Iranian terror proxy’s media office, Mohammad Afif, said in a news conference in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
“I believe that we are still in the phase of testing the waters and presenting initial ideas and proactive discussions, but so far there is nothing actual yet,” he added.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.