US official says Israel asked for Lebanon pullout extension but won't get it

Israel asked the Trump administration on Monday for another extension to the deadline for the Israeli army withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but won’t get it, a U.S. official told The Times of Israel.

The response from Washington is that for now, it plans to stick to the February 18 deadline, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday to discuss the matter.

U.S. deputy Mideast envoy Morgan Ortagus traveled to Lebanon, and then Israel, over the weekend to survey the progress of the U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that ended a two-month all-out war. Ortagus told reporters that the Trump administration views February 18 as a “firm date” for the completion of Israel’s withdrawal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked U.S. President Donald Trump to support a further extension of the Israeli army’s deployment in Lebanon, Channel 12 reported Monday.

According to the report, Israel is seeking to keep an army presence at five key border points to enable the maintenance of a buffer zone.

The report said that Israel has reiterated to the U.S. its claim that the Lebanese Army is not effectively deployed in south Lebanon, as the terms of the ceasefire said it would, and is not preventing Hezbollah from reorganizing. Israel has warned that Hezbollah aims to return to the border area as soon as Israeli troops depart.

The ceasefire brokered by the Biden administration in late November was originally supposed to see an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon by late January. Two days before that deadline, Netanyahu said that Israel would not be withdrawing by that date, accusing Lebanon of not meeting its obligations under the agreement.

Hours before the deadline was set to expire, the U.S. announced an extension until February 18, maintaining that the Lebanese Army had yet to sufficiently deploy in lieu of the Israeli army to ensure that Hezbollah could not regain a foothold along Israel’s northern border. Both Israel and Lebanon agreed to the new date.

Under the terms of the original deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside U.N. peacekeepers as Israel withdrew over 60 days. Hezbollah was also to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel’s military says its forces have continued to uncover and seize Hezbollah weapons in prohibited areas and that the Lebanese Army is not keeping its part of the deal.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel is theoretically entitled to act against immediate threats posed by Hezbollah but must forward complaints about longer-term threats to an oversight committee composed of representatives from the U.S., France, Lebanon, Israel and the international observer force UNIFIL.