The U.S.-monitored arrangement between Lebanon and Israel will carry on until Feb. 18, the White House stated on Sunday evening—the day the prior agreement, struck on Nov. 26, was slated to end.
“The government of Lebanon, the government of Israel and the government of the United States will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after Oct. 7, 2023,” the White House stated.
Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said on Friday that a “short, temporary ceasefire extension” was “urgently needed.”
U.S. President Donald Trump “is committed to ensuring Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel,” while also supporting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and the new Lebanese government, Hughes stated.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed that Beirut agreed to the extension, saying the decision came following talks with consultations with President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a powerful Hezbollah ally. Mikati claimed in a statement that the United States had heeded his request to negotiate the release of Hezbollah terrorists detained by Israel since Oct. 7, 2023.
Earlier on Sunday, the Iranian-backed terrorist organization had said in a statement that “the international community, led by the countries that sponsored the agreement, must bear responsibility for Israel’s violations and force it to fully withdraw from our lands.”
Israel announced on Friday that it would not withdraw all of its forces from Southern Lebanon by Sunday. Hezbollah warned that it would consider the truce terminated, and the Lebanese government urged the Trump administration to intervene.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated on Friday that the Israeli military’s “withdrawal process is conditional on the Lebanese Army deploying in Southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani,” the river in the southern part of the country.
“Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the State of Lebanon, the phased withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States,” the Israeli government said.
Israel “will not endanger its communities and citizens and will insist on the full implementation of the objective of the fighting in the north, which is the safe return of residents to their homes,” it added.
The 60-day ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27 and was slated to expire on Sunday. Hostilities began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in solidarity, it said, with Hamas in Gaza.
In a deliberation held at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee three weeks ago, Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin, the head of the Israeli Defense Forces Northern Command, said that Hezbollah has committed hundreds of violations of the ceasefire terms, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan News reported recently.
Gordin added that the Lebanese Armed Forces are aiding the Shi’ite terrorist organization in locations where the Lebanese army is manned by Shi’ite commanders and companies.
The IDF did not comment on the report.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) told JNS during a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, “We are not going to trust anyone but ourselves and the IDF forces.
“What we need now is to make sure that every clause of the agreement is fulfilled to the full extent. Otherwise, the people of Israel—especially the people who live in the northern part of Israel—will not be safe and won’t be able to go back to their home,” Lapid said, adding that Jerusalem should not accept “any breach” of the ceasefire agreement signed with Beirut on Nov. 26.
Benny Gantz, who leads the opposition National Unity Party and served in Jerusalem’s War Cabinet during the initial months of the fighting, told JNS that the situation on the northern border is “very important.”
“We should trust nothing but ourselves,” he stressed. “We are giving a chance to international forces with the inspection by the Americans, but we trust only on ourselves.”
