TEL AVIV, February 16. /TASS/. Hezbollah must be disarmed, preferably by the Lebanese military, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem.
"Hezbollah must be disarmed. And Israel would prefer that the Lebanese army do that job, but no one should doubt that Israel will do what it has to do to enforce the understandings of the ceasefire and defend our security," he said, adding that the two UN resolutions on this matter, namely 1559 and 1701, must be implemented. He vowed that Israel is committed to the Lebanese ceasefire agreements and expects that Lebanon will be likewise committed to them.
The truce agreement, concluded as a result of US-French mediation on November 27, 2024, provides for the deployment of the Lebanese army along the southern border with the support of UN peacekeepers and the withdrawal of Hezbollah militias beyond the Litani River. In return, Israel is obliged to pull its forces out of southern Lebanon within up to 60 days. On January 27, the White House said that an agreement had been reached to extend the timeframe for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Lebanese territory until February 18.