Israel is requesting a 30-day extension of the ceasefire in the north to further ensure its security needs, a request President Donald Trump currently opposes, according to Army Radio.
Speaking to Army Radio, Israeli US Ambassador Michael Herzog said that Israel is in talks with the Trump administration to "reach an understanding" of the need for the IDF to remain in southern Lebanon until its mission was complete.
Meanwhile, Army Radio defense reporter Amir Bar Shalom said that Trump is insisting that the IDF complete the withdrawal by this Sunday, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement.
In a briefing provided yesterday to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Northern Command Commander Ori Gordin painted a pessimistic picture of progress in demilitarizing southern Lebanon.
Gordin said that Hezbollah had committed "hundreds" of violations of the ceasefire, which stipulates that Hezbollah must remain entirely behind the Litani River. Gordin said that Hezbollah terrorists, including armed ones, were spotted operating in southern Lebanon, including trying to transport and even manufacture weapons.
He also said that the deployment of the Lebanese Army in southern Lebanon is moving too slowly, and that units containing Shiite solders and officers are even cooperating with Hezbollah, contrary to their mission of being a neutral body ensuring the area's demilitarization.
Lebanese officials from the President on down have insisted that Israel fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by this Sunday as stipulated in the agreement. They have also claimed that the reason for the slow deployment of the Lebanese Army is the IDF's constant incursions into suspected Hezbollah weapons storage areas with the aim of destroying them.
Hezbollah has threatened to renew attacks on Israel if the IDF does not withdraw from Lebanon by the original deadline, and residents of IDF-occupied villages in the region have sworn to return to them, despite IDF warnings not do so, if the army does not withdraw by that time.
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