Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Donald Trump that Israel will not withdraw from Lebanon and does not consider itself bound by provisions related to Lebanon in the emerging agreement with Iran, Israeli sources said.
Netanyahu informed Trump that Israeli forces would remain deployed in their current positions in Lebanon and continue operations against Hezbollah threats, including the destruction of terrorist infrastructure and military responses to attacks targeting Israel, the sources said.
Israeli cabinet ministers were said to support the position, with the understanding that Israel would continue pursuing its security interests in Lebanon. Netanyahu received full backing for that approach during a cabinet meeting, according to Israeli sources.
Defense Minister Israel Katz reinforced the position, saying, “Prime Minister Netanyahu and I are leading a clear policy that establishes that the IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza – indefinitely to protect the border and Israeli communities from jihadist elements.”
Katz added, “We oppose the IDF’s withdrawal from Lebanon, despite all the existing pressures and those that will come.”
He said both Netanyahu and Israeli officials had conveyed that message to Washington. Katz stated that Netanyahu raised the issue with Trump and other U.S. officials, while he personally discussed it with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Israel’s position differs from statements made by Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif, who said the parties had “declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.” Iran’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kazam Gharibabadi also called for a “permanent and immediate end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, Trump publicly criticized Israeli strikes conducted Sunday against Hezbollah targets in Dahieh, near Beirut, after Iran threatened to abandon the ceasefire and retaliate.
Axios reported that Trump told Netanyahu he had “no f—ing judgment.”
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said: “A deal will be signed within two or three hours. I told Netanyahu— what the hell are you doing?”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the strike “should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran.”
