Netanyahu: Israel Will Consider Phased Withdrawal From Lebanon if Hezbollah Disarmed
Netanyahu offers to “support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah.”
Israel would consider a phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon if the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group is disarmed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“Israel on Monday signalled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the Lebanese armed forces took action to disarm Iran-backed Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah,” Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also offered to “support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah.”
“In light of this important development, Israel stands ready to support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah and to work together towards a more secure and stable future for both nations,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
“If the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) take the necessary steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures, including a phased reduction of IDF presence in coordination with the US-led security mechanism,” the PMO statement added.
If the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) take the necessary steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures, including a phased reduction of IDF presence in coordination with the US-led security mechanism.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 25, 2025
Since Israel agreed to a ceasefire in southern Lebanon nine months ago, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has maintained five forward posts in the area to prevent Hezbollah terrorists from regrouping and rebuilding their infrastructure.
The Associated Press reports:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces could start withdrawing from territory they hold in southern Lebanon after the Lebanese cabinet’s “momentous decision” earlier this month to work towards the disarmament of the militant group Hezbollah by the end of 2025.
Netanyahu said Monday that if Lebanon takes the necessary steps to disarm Hezbollah, then Israel will respond with reciprocal measures, including a phased reduction of the Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon.
Since the Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024 with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Hezbollah officials have said the group will not discuss its disarmament until Israel withdraws from five hills it controls inside Lebanon and stops almost daily airstrikes that have killed or wounded hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah members.
There was no immediate response by Lebanese authorities to Netanyahu’s statement.
Beirut is under U.S. pressure to disarm the group that recently fought a 14-month war with Israel and was left gravely weakened, with many of its political and military leaders dead.
The statement comes weeks after Hezbollah terror chief, Naim Qassem, threatened Lebanon with civil war if the Iranian proxy terrorist group is made to disarm as part of a U.S.-backed plan. “Hezbollah raised the spectre of civil war with a warning on Friday that there would be ‘no life’ in Lebanon if the government sought to confront or eliminate the Iran-backed group,” Reuters reports on August 15.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem challenges the Lebanese government’s decision to disarm Hezbollah and threatens to drag the country to civil war.
“The Lebanese government made the sinful decision to disarm the resistance. We will not surrender the weapons that have strengthened us.… pic.twitter.com/ASiXyq81mT
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) August 25, 2025
Lebanon’s government is obliged to take away Hezbollah’s weapons by the year-end in return for the ceasefire with Israel — brokered by President Donald Trump’s administration in late November 2024. The ceasefire was declared after a 7-week-long IDF operation in response to Hezbollah’s cross-border missile and drone fire, which began shortly after Hamas’s October 7 massacre — forcing more than 70,000 civilians to flee their homes in northern Israel. In July 2024, a Hezbollah missile struck a Children’s soccer game in the Golan Heights, killing 12 kids.
Since the November ceasefire, the Iranian proxy terrorist group has repeatedly violated the truce, prompting the IDF to launch limited military raids aimed at eliminating the terrorist forces sneaking into the area and destroying their tunnels and other fortified infrastructure.
IDF eliminates Hezbollah operative rebuilding terror infrastructure in south Lebanon
On Monday, another Hezbollah operative was eliminated by the IDF in southern Lebanon while trying to rebuild terrorist infrastructure. The strike highlights Hezbollah’s intention to restore its terrorist buildup along Israel’s northern border. The Israeli military conducted several similar strikes in recent weeks.
“Earlier today, the IDF struck and eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in the area of Tebnine in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military disclosed Monday morning. “The terrorist was involved in attempts to rehabilitate Hezbollah military infrastructure in the area of Beit Lif, and his actions constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
UPDATE: The IDF confirms it struck and eliminated a Hezbollah operative in the area of Tebnine in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, the operative was involved in reestablishing Hezbollah military infrastructure in the area of Beit Lif, in violation of the ceasefire. https://t.co/4mROacNlJB pic.twitter.com/FpuRZz12uU
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) August 25, 2025
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Mistake
blmplo: ok we disarmed
GOTCHA
Hezbollah will never disarm. All you can do it kill them and their paymasters in Tehran. So kill them.
Um, Trump was not president in 2024. The ceasefire was brokered by Democrat operative Amos Hochstein on behalf of whoever was running things then.
To be fair, Trump became acting President pretty much as soon as the election was called for him. Biden’s handlers locked him away and Harris cleaned out the wine aisle.
No, he didn’t. Government officials didn’t start taking orders from Trump until noon on Jan-20. Hochstein certainly wasn’t taking Trump’s orders, or coordinating with Trump’s people. He negotiated the ceasefire under the orders of whoever was running the Oval Office during the President’s nap time.
In other words, “let’s you and him fight”.
This is what the Lebanese government promised last year. Since it was allowing Hizballah to operate freely in its territory, and included it in its government, Israel regarded itself as at war not just with Hizballah but with Lebanon, and acted accordingly. In return for Israel stopping its war against Lebanon, the Lebanese government agreed to fight a civil war against Hizballah. Now Israel and the USA are demanding that it make good on that agreement.
Israel’s offer to “help” is of course designed to put Lebanon in an impossible position. Accepting Israeli help would make the government collaborators with Israel, and thus traitors in the eyes of Hizballah’s supporters. It would be like the Irish government accepting UK military help in the Irish Civil War. Good. Let them squirm.
Sheriff Behan to the white courtesy phone.
Never say never.
Neaver.