US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon, announced the signing of a framework agreement aimed at ending hostilities between the Israeli side and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The document was signed by Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter and his Lebanese counterpart Nada Hamadeh Moawad with the participation of American negotiators. Hamadeh Moawad called the agreement a “first step” towards peace, security and prosperity for all Lebanese.
“The bilateral framework agreement signed today is the first step towards restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, ensuring a permanent and permanent cessation of hostilities, returning our citizens to their lands and creating conditions under which all Lebanese can live in peace, security and prosperity,” said Hamadeh Moawad.
Leiter said that during the four days of negotiations, Hamadeh Moawad was a “tough negotiator” and “fought like a lioness.” He noted that the ultimate goal of the agreement is to establish “real peace in which both countries live in security and the sovereignty of Israel and Lebanon is respected, respected and protected.”
“Under this trilateral agreement, based on the implementation of specific obligations, Iran remains outside of it. Hezbollah remains outside its borders. The path to peace between Israel and Lebanon is open,” Leiter added.
Participants in the ceremony did not disclose the details of the framework agreement. After signing the document, representatives of the parties also did not answer questions from journalists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel will withdraw troops from two areas in southern Lebanon and hand them over to the control of the Lebanese army. According to him, one of the sites is located north of the Litani River, and the second is south of it. Netanyahu described the redeployment as a withdrawal from positions in Lebanon that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “no longer needs.”
“We are creating two pilot zones, both on the recommendation of the IDF. The first is located completely outside the security zone, south of the Litani River. The second is located north of Litani – a small part of it is inside the expanded security zone that we have secured over the past two weeks, but the IDF has explicitly stated that it does not need this area. Therefore, we are handing over these areas to the Lebanese army, which will have to take responsibility for their control and security,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu called the agreement a major victory for Israel, emphasizing that it will allow Israel to maintain control over a large part of the territory in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, CNN reports.
In turn, the representative of the Lebanese parliament from Hezbollah, Hassan Fadlallah, said that the group rejects any direct negotiations with Israel and demands that the Lebanese government abandon both the negotiations themselves and the decisions made as part of the discussions. According to the Associated Press, it is unlikely that Hezbollah will agree to a plan that would disarm it throughout the country.
Let us recall that after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran last week, Israel, which is not a party to this agreement, continued to strike the south of the country. Tehran notified Washington and the mediators in advance that the situation in Lebanon directly affects the prospects for the negotiation process. According to the Iranian side, Israeli strikes up to 10 km deep into Lebanese territory contradict the first point of the signed memorandum.
On Friday, Israel said its military had killed seven Hezbollah members operating near areas controlled by Israeli forces.
US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Iran of violating a ceasefire agreement, saying the Islamic republic had launched attack drones at ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran fired at least four kamikaze attack drones at ships in the Strait of Hormuz. One of them accurately hit the upper deck of a large, expensive cargo ship. The ship was damaged, but continued to move. We shot down the other three. This is a stupid violation of our ceasefire agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
At a meeting in the Oval Office, Trump, answering a journalist’s question about a possible answer, said: “You’ll find out.” Later, Axios journalist Barak Ravid, citing an American official, reported that the United States launched strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
