The Israeli Air Force on Saturday struck three Hezbollah operatives on the Lebanese side of the border, near Israeli territory in the Har Dov area, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Also on Saturday, the IAF targeted terrorists exiting a building in Southern Lebanon that belonged to Hezbollah, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
“The IDF continues to be committed to the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, is deployed in the Southern Lebanon region and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military said following the incident.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Armed Forces stated on X that its troops were completing their deployment in eight towns near the Israeli border, as well as in the coastal area between Naqoura and Tyre, ahead of the projected withdrawal of the IDF by the end of the month.
The LAF said it was cooperating with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the five-member committee supervising the truce in implementing the deployment.
The LAF called on civilians not to approach the area as it was conducting engineering work to remove unexploded ordnance and to clear rubble off the roads.
According to the Beirut-based, Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein has assured Lebanese officials that Israel will fully withdraw its forces from Southern Lebanon as outlined in the 60-day ceasefire agreement that took effect on Nov. 27.
Hochstein met with senior Lebanese officials this past week, among them former army chief Joseph Aoun, who on Thursday was elected as the country’s president.
According to the report, the U.S. envoy obtained a detailed schedule from Israel with regard to its exit from Lebanon, citing Jan. 26 as the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw.
Hochstein reportedly asked Beirut to strengthen its army units and raise its level of preparedness, in order to guarantee that the weapons and ammunition belonging to Hezbollah south of the Litani River will be handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Lebanese army officials told the American diplomat that an agreement with Hezbollah was struck and that the LAF will soon announce the removal of all private weapons and all “militant groups” in Southern Lebanon that are not officially under the Lebanese government’s orders.
