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No plans to withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza — Israeli minister

Israel Katz said the troops would remain there for an indefinite period

TEL AVIV, July 1. /TASS/. Israel will maintain troops in security zones in southern Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

"The Israel Defense Forces will not withdraw and will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely to protect our citizens and communities," he said, as cited by the Ynet media outlet.

On June 26, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, alongside the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington, announced that the parties had reached a framework agreement after five rounds of talks. Under the agreement, the Lebanese armed forces will gradually "restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory." Non-state armed groups are to be disarmed, while their military infrastructures dismantled, which is expected to create conditions for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

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