France and the United States are trying to encourage Israel to fully withdraw from south Lebanon by suggesting the deployment of a peacekeeping force or even private security companies in strategic areas.
All Israeli troops were due to leave Lebanese territory by Tuesday, as the deadline passed for the full implementation of the ceasefire deal that brought an end to a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
While residential border towns are now free of Israeli soldiers, they nonetheless remain in five key areas of the south.
According to an American diplomatic source, Israel proposed to maintain control over these five points at least until 28 February to “supervise the safe return” of Israelis to their communities near the Lebanese border.
However, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has strongly rejected this proposal.
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A spokesperson for the presidency said that Lebanon will consider any continued Israeli presence as an occupation, and that it has the “right to adopt all means” to ensure the withdrawal.
‘We are working with the international community to pressure Israel to withdraw in accordance with Resolution 1701’
– Youssef Rajji, Lebanese foreign minister
France, a member of the five-country oversight committee monitoring the ceasefire, similarly rejected the Israeli proposal.
A French diplomatic source told Middle East Eye that President Emmanuel Macron personally intervened, contacting Aoun and informing the Israelis that Lebanon rejected any continued occupation.
France offered to deploy French troops or UN peacekeepers at the sites instead.
However, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, Israel rejected the plan.
“We are relying on international pressure… We are working with the international community to pressure Israel to withdraw in accordance with Resolution 1701,” Rajji told local media on Monday, referring to the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and is used as a basis for the current ceasefire.
US proposal: Private contractors
The US, which co-brokered the ceasefire deal, offered to deploy multinational forces or private contractors, according to an American diplomatic source.
This strategy is similar to what has reportedly started happening in the Netzarim corridor in the Gaza Strip, with private security firms sending staff to man a checkpoint.
A Lebanese source close to the presidency told MEE that Lebanon firmly rejected this idea.
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While the US repeatedly said that it supports Israel’s full withdrawal from Lebanon, it has not overtly opposed the continued Israeli presence at the five sites.
Israel has already built fortifications at the locations, which have commanding views of both south Lebanon and northern Israel.
Al-Oweida hill, located between the Lebanese border towns of Meis al-Jabal and Blida, oversees many Israeli kibbutzim, according to a Lebanese security source.
Al-Hamamim hill near Khiam is 900 metres high, providing a clear view of Israel.
Jabal Blat is considered a strategically sensitive location between the Lebanese towns of Marwahin and Ramiya. It overlooks vast sections of southern Lebanon and allows for easy movement as it is an uninhabited area with little infrastructure.
Al-Labbouneh hill, located on the western side of Lebanon’s border with Israel, oversees much of Lebanon’s southwestern region, including the city of Tyre and the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp.
Finally, al-Aziza hill overlooks the Israeli towns of Metula and Kiryat Shmona, which were regular targets for Hezbollah’s rocket attacks during the war.
Where does Hezbollah stand?
Leading up to the ceasefire agreement’s deadline, Hezbollah, the Lebanese movement that began clashing with Israel in October 2023, repeatedly said that it opposes any remaining Israeli presence in Lebanon.
Its leader, Naim Qassem, has said that his party will deal with Israelis in Lebanon as an occupying force should they remain. Hezbollah waged an insurgency against Israel’s 18-year occupation of south Lebanon, forcing it to retreat in 2000.
‘Hezbollah’s priority is to reorganise its internal situation and rebuild the destroyed areas’
– Source close to Hezbollah
However, a source close to Hezbollah told MEE that the group “will not react to the Israeli side remaining in the five points and will leave that to the Lebanese state and the Lebanese army”.
“In its calculations, [Hezbollah’s] priority is to reorganise its internal situation and rebuild the destroyed areas, especially since the next stage has many challenges regarding how the funds for reconstruction will arrive,” the source added.
The party will hold a mass funeral for its late leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his brief successor Hashem Safieddine, both of whom were killed by Israel during the war, on Sunday.
There are no guarantees that Israel will end all attacks on Lebanon after Tuesday either.
A Lebanese security source said Israel may continue carrying out air strikes and assassinations across Lebanon, despite the agreement demanding respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Despite these complications, Lebanon’s southerners have flocked to the border areas, eager to return to their hometowns.
Most of the border villages Israel withdrew from are razed to the ground.
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Israel started clashing with Hezbollah in October 2023, when the Lebanese party launched what it called a “solidarity front” with the Gaza Strip.
The situation escalated into a full-blown war in September 2024 when Israel launched a widespread bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israel’s attacks killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, most of them between September and November of last year.
The war was ended by a US and French-brokered ceasefire in late November, which ordered Israel to leave Lebanese territory.
Israel was initially meant to withdraw by 26 January, but the truce was extended until 18 February.
Israel said that it needed more time before fully withdrawing and accused Lebanon of not fulfilling its part of the agreement, which involved Hezbollah retreating north of the Litani River to be replaced by the Lebanese army.
Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement hundreds of times, carrying out several deadly air strikes and shooting civilians returning to their villages, killing dozens.
