PNN – Following the release of news of an agreement between the Israeli regime and the Lebanese government to begin negotiations to resolve the parties’ border disputes, some Israeli officials announced Israel’s efforts to normalize its relations with Lebanon.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing the Israeli Channel 14 TV, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced the start of negotiations with the Lebanese government regarding the resolution of border disputes between the parties in Al-Naqoura, with American mediation and French supervision.
According to the Hebrew Kan network, yesterday, the Israeli regime, claiming to strengthen the position of the new Lebanese government, which is in the interests of the regime, agreed to the release of five Lebanese prisoners it had captured during the war with Hezbollah last fall, as part of these understandings.
However, the Israeli regime’s negotiations on the border lines with Lebanon have begun while the Israeli military is still present in five strategic and important bases in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese Hezbollah is demanding a serious withdrawal of the regime from this region.
In this regard, the Israeli Channel 12 TV reported that the regime’s army plans to leave these bases soon and transfer them to the Lebanese army as part of the implementation of the agreement with Lebanon. The media emphasized that Israel’s agreement to the withdrawal of Zionist troops from strategic areas in southern Lebanon will occur if the Lebanese government proves that it is effectively implementing the disarmament of Hezbollah.
The Israeli TV channel 14 also reported that the Israeli army will remain stationed at these five strategic points in southern Lebanon, which overlook the Israeli settlements in northern occupied Palestine and strategic points in southern Lebanon.
The network quoted a political official from the Israeli regime as saying that Israel will remain in these five locations indefinitely until Hezbollah forces are assured of their withdrawal from the southern Litani. The network also reported that the deployment of Israeli troops in these areas is largely due to the residents of the northern settlements of occupied Palestine being confident that Hezbollah’s attack will be repulsed and that they will be able to return to these settlements.
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In this regard, Orna Mizrahi, a researcher at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), previously stated in a note published on February 19, 2025, that the presence of the Zionist military in these areas is detrimental to the Zionist regime, saying:
Hezbollah is seriously demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli army from all of southern Lebanon and has even threatened to take serious action without prior warning if it is not implemented. On the other hand, the new Lebanese government is also openly opposed to the continued presence of the regime’s army in the five strategic areas of Lebanon and has considered the regime’s continued occupation to be a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a violation of the agreement. The researcher added: However, given America’s support for Israel, it seems that the new Lebanese government will implicitly agree to the presence of this regime in strategic areas. Moreover, despite the common interests of the new Lebanese government and Israel in confronting Hezbollah, which is to prevent its re-establishment in southern Lebanon and to realize the prospect of its disarmament based on the new government’s basic instructions on February 17, it cannot join Hezbollah’s position.
According to Orna Mizrahi, in any case, the Lebanese president and prime minister have previously made it clear that they will continue to work to achieve a complete withdrawal through diplomatic means.
Given this, it is expected that the Zionist regime is now under continuous pressure from Lebanon and international elements to evacuate these areas as quickly as possible, and the failure of the Zionist military to leave may lead to a dispute between the Israeli regime and the Lebanese government.
He added: Hezbollah may even use the continued presence of the Zionist regime as evidence of the Lebanese army’s helplessness against Israel and as an excuse to maintain its position as the true guardian of Lebanon.
Therefore, over time, the presence of Israeli army forces in these areas may become a target for attack. In this situation, where the Israeli regime is interested in further weakening Hezbollah to the point of disarming it and strengthening the new Lebanese government, it should try to withdraw from these areas in a short period of time and deploy Israeli army forces along the Blue Line as quickly as possible.
The Israeli Channel 12 also confirmed the news, quoting a political source, and saying: The negotiations with Lebanon are part of a broad and comprehensive plan, and we want to normalize our relations with Lebanon while conducting negotiations.
It should be noted that these strategic areas overlook the Zionist settlements, including Ashtula, Hanita, Shlomi, Zariat, and Shumara, and the agricultural fields of occupied Palestine, as well as some Lebanese settlements, such as Dahra, Labuneh, and Ulema al-Shaab.