Hagari: Israel committed to the ceasefire in Lebanon

Israel “is committed to the ceasefire. Sixty days is a gradual phase to ensure that Hezbollah does not harm us or violate the agreement, as happened in 2006,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in an interview with Sky News Arabia on Monday.

“UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese government must fulfill their roles—this is also in their interest. We need this period to ensure there are no terror bases there,” the admiral added.

He emphasized that the Lebanese people and government must ensure that “Beirut and Southern Lebanon are free of weapons—not in homes, not in yards and not in children’s rooms.”

Hagari said that he had just returned from Maroun al-Ras in Southern Lebanon and had observed the town of Bint Jbeil, where the IDF fought Hezbollah terrorists in one of the main battles of the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

“The message being conveyed is to Iran, to the militias in Iraq, and to other Iranian militias to learn from what happened. We will not allow what occurred on Oct. 7, [2023], to happen again,” he said.

Hagari also discussed the Syrian front, where the IDF has been busy thwarting Iranian smuggling operations to resupply Hezbollah in Lebanon, in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

“Israel is closely monitoring developments in Syria and observes that the Iranian regime is sending reinforcements to Syria. Syria belongs to the Syrians, and we will ensure that Iran does not smuggle weapons to Lebanon and Hezbollah. We will act to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Lebanon and Hezbollah through Syria,” he said.

“Hezbollah has been defeated in the campaign. What happens in Syria concerns Syria, not Israel. We need to ensure that we are not threatened—we are a sovereign state, and we will ensure that Iranian weapons are not smuggled to Hezbollah. If they attempt to do so, we will act accordingly,” Hagari said.

The IDF said on Monday that it operated in the morning and on Sunday to respond to several threats by Hezbollah against Israeli civilians in violation of the truce agreement.

These included several military vehicles operating in the area of a Hezbollah missile manufacturing site in the Beqaa Valley that were struck and terrorist infrastructure sites used to smuggle weapons next to the Syria-Lebanon border in the Hermel area. “These posed a threat to the State of Israel and were a violation of the ceasefire understandings.”

The IDF also said that it opened an investigation into reports regarding a Lebanese soldier who was injured in one of the strikes.

“Additionally, the IDF conducted several strikes in response to Hezbollah terrorists in the area of south Lebanon, thwarting threats to Israeli civilians,” the army said. “The IDF is operating against any threat against the State of Israel.”