At press conference, Netanyahu claims framework accord with Lebanon opens door to peace but lets IDF address threats, also says Israel sendi
by Nava Freiberg
The framework agreement with Lebanon, reached Friday in US-backed talks in Washington, includes a pilot effort in which Lebanese soldiers take control of some small areas currently held by Israeli troops, and includes a process aimed at disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. Hezbollah has rejected the agreement.
At the press conference, Netanyahu called the deal “a major blow” to Iran and to Hezbollah. Contrary to Iranian demands that Israel withdraw from south Lebanon, the prime minister said the framework accord allows the IDF to maintain its buffer zone there for as long as it needs.
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“We’ll continue to hold it until Hezbollah and other terror groups are disarmed,” he said, “until there is no longer a threat to Israel from Lebanon.”
With the accord, he claimed, Israel, Lebanon and the US “are essentially telling Iran, ‘This is none of your business. You have no status here, no involvement and no role. Not you, not Hezbollah, not any terror group.'”
On Saturday night, however, the Lebanese president’s office appeared to undercut Netanyahu’s statement, saying that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told US President Donald Trump he is committed to implementing the agreement but hopes the US will pressure Israel to withdraw from the south.
Netanyahu, in the press conference, acknowledged that Israel would be withdrawing from two small areas it currently holds, in a pilot project for disarming Hezbollah and transferring the territory to the Lebanese Armed Forces. Showing the areas on a map, he said one is completely outside the security zone, and the other is on the edge of the zone in an area the IDF no longer needs to retain.
Thus, he explained, Israel is retaining the entire security zone area that it needs to protect northern Israel.
