Netanyahu: More Lebanon deals are coming
Shafaq News- Middle East
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that additional agreements with the Lebanese government were expected soon as part of what he described as a broader effort to "change the face of the region."
Speaking at a press conference, Netanyahu presented the recently signed US-mediated framework accord as a step toward ending the conflict with Lebanon through security arrangements addressing Hezbollah's weapons, arguing that Beirut's decision to sign the deal sent a message to Iran and the Lebanese group to "get out of Lebanon and leave it alone."
Washington and Beirut, Netanyahu added, had accepted Israel's continued presence in a "security zone" in southern Lebanon, where operations against Hezbollah's infrastructure would continue because "there is still much work to be done." The military had also been instructed to retain operational freedom against any threats originating from Lebanese territory.
The framework agreement, signed in Washington on Friday after a fifth round of negotiations, sets out a phased Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. It begins with two pilot zones to be transferred to the Lebanese army after armed groups are disarmed and their infrastructure dismantled. Lebanon's two main Shia parties, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, along with other groups and parliamentary blocs, rejected the trilateral framework, describing it as unbalanced and a threat to Lebanese sovereignty.
