Israel refuses to withdraw from Lebanon despite new US-Iran peace deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Sunday that Israeli forces will maintain their "security zone" in southern Lebanon indefinitely.

This defiance comes after a landmark Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran, which includes a regional ceasefire that Israel claims it was not a formal party to. While the U.S. is pressuring Israel to withdraw or at least tighten its rules of engagement, Israeli leadership argues that an immediate pullout would allow Hezbollah to regroup and threaten northern residents. Tensions have peaked as Israel published new military maps of the occupied territory and vowed to "eliminate threats" without restriction, even as Iran warns that the broader peace deal’s success depends on the de-escalation of the Lebanon front.

International mediators are now scrambling to reconcile Israel's security demands with the broader peace deal ahead of high-stakes follow-up talks in Geneva.