PM: Trump promised freedom to counter threats in Lebanon

IDF draws up Lebanon plans amid concern Iran deal could curb fighting with Hezbollah

Israel said to inform US it wants freedom of operation in southern Lebanon, although terms of deal reportedly stipulate it may only act if Hezbollah attacks first

The Israel Defense Forces has been preparing for the possibility that an emerging deal between the US and Iran would force it to rein in its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Hebrew media reports on Sunday.

It was unclear as of Sunday afternoon whether any agreement to end the war with Iran would extend to Hezbollah, as, recently, the matter of Israel’s fight against the Iran-backed terror group has been dealt with in separate negotiations in Washington.

On Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, expressed hope for an agreement that would include Lebanon, and reiterated the terror group’s ongoing refusal to disarm. He also urged Lebanese authorities to abandon direct talks with Israel, ahead of a fourth round of such discussions next month, charging that Washington “is not an honest broker.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, meanwhile Sunday, approved plans for the continuation of fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon after holding a situational assessment, the military said. During a visit to the Northern Command and later to the headquarters of the 401st Armored Brigade, which has been operating in Lebanon, Zamir said the IDF is “determined to deepen the blow against Hezbollah.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to address Lebanon’s possible inclusion in the US-Iran deal during a limited security cabinet meeting on Sunday evening, the Walla news site reported.

In his first comments on the emerging deal on Sunday, Netanyahu asserted he had received assurances from US President Donald Trump that Israel would retain freedom of action against military threats, “on every front, including Lebanon.”

Sources familiar with the matter were cited by Walla as saying that Israel would refuse to return to the status quo in Lebanon, and was insisting that it be allowed to maintain freedom of operation within the parts of southern Lebanon that it has captured since the fighting with Hezbollah renewed on March 2.

The sources said that Israel had expressed its intentions to the US to keep hold of roughly seven or eight kilometers of land on the Lebanese side of the border.

Similarly, sources told the Ynet news outlet that even if forced by the US and Iran to halt its offensive in southern Lebanon, the IDF would keep up its efforts to clear the area of Hezbollah operatives.

Among the options being considered is the establishment of permanent military outposts inside villages in southern Lebanon, preventing Hezbollah operatives and residents alike from returning to the area, Ynet reported.

Security officials told the news outlet that allowing residents to return to their home villages would pose additional risk to IDF troops and Israeli communities close to the border.

Another option would be for the IDF to step up its targeted raids in southern Lebanon, the outlet reported, thereby maintaining control over the area without the need for permanent outposts. It said the military could also pursue a combination of the two methods.

Despite the IDF’s apparent intentions to keep up offensive action against Hezbollah operatives in the vicinity of the Israeli border, Axios has reported that under the terms of the US-Iran deal, Israel will only be able to strike Hezbollah if the terror group instigates or carries out attacks.

At the same time, Ynet reported that the IDF Northern Command was of two minds regarding the best approach to take in Lebanon while awaiting a potential ceasefire.

On one hand, the report said, the IDF wants to work through as many goals as quickly as possible, given that it could be forced to stop fighting and withdraw at any moment. But on the other hand, it said, this could pose a greater risk, as Hezbollah may make the same calculation as Israel and escalate its operations until it is forced to stop.

The latest round of fighting in Lebanon, which began anew on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in response to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, has claimed more than 3,000 lives, according to Lebanon’s health ministry last week.

Several hundred of that number were said to have been killed in the wake of a fragile ceasefire brokered by the US, which reduced, but failed to stop, the fighting.

Many Hezbollah fighters who have been killed in the war are not included in the health ministry death toll, sources familiar with Hezbollah’s casualty numbers have said.

Twenty-two IDF soldiers have been killed in Lebanon in the same period, nine of whom were killed after the start of the ceasefire. A civilian contractor was also killed in southern Lebanon.

Stav Levaton, Nava Freiberg, and agencies contributed to this report.