Benjamin Netanyahu says that Friday’s framework agreement with Lebanon opens the way for peace, but at the same time allows the IDF to handle threats.
Israel’s Prime Minister also says that Israel is sending a delegation to Washington D.C. to discuss the Iran agreement, according to Times of Israel.
At the same time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are carrying out military operations in both Lebanon and Syria.
Several people have been killed in the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military (IDF) which says the dead were Hezbollah fighters. They are reported to have been armed with rocket launchers, which were destroyed, and were considered a threat to Israeli soldiers.
The IDF also states on Sunday that they attacked southern Syria the day before. There they killed what they describe as several armed terrorists in the so-called security zone in southern Syria.
The security zone is an Israeli-occupied area in southern Syria that was established in 2024 to protect Israeli civilians and soldiers. (NTB)
Hezbollah is a Shia Muslim group that can be described as a mixture of terrorists and militia. The group’s absolutely most important backer is the regime in Tehran.
This may be one of the main reasons why Iranian negotiators demand that the situation in Lebanon must be included in any possible peace agreement between Israel/USA and Iran. That US President Donald Trump appears to accept this principle has created tendencies towards conflict between Israel and the USA.
“Historic Achievement”
Netanyahu called Friday’s framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon a “historic achievement for Israel”. He believes the agreement opens the door to a future “peace agreement between the two nations”, while still allowing the IDF to remain on the other side of the border to combat threats from Hezbollah.
The Prime Minister made his statements at a press conference on Saturday evening.
Israel and the USA are attempting to preserve cooperation, and Netanyahu also addressed the Knesset election taking place on 27 October, as well as the recently signed memorandum of understanding between the USA and Iran.
The memorandum of understanding initiates 60 days of negotiations between the parties to achieve a lasting end to the American-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
But Israel is placed on the sidelines, and is not a party to these negotiations.
Netanyahu said that Israel would send a delegation to Washington D.C. to discuss the memorandum of understanding, and claimed that the war had created the conditions for the Iranian regime to fall.
The terms of the memorandum of understanding between the USA and Iran, which is called the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), have caused great concern in Israel, among those who believe that the agreement imposes a ceasefire in Lebanon and releases funds to Iran without the country making concrete concessions regarding its nuclear programme.
Others believe that Trump and his team are simply using this type of MOU as a negotiating card. After all, it is a memorandum of understanding, not a final agreement on ceasefire and then lasting peace.
The USA has resumed its attacks on Iran after the Revolutionary Guard once again attacked civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz and American bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
At the same time, the USA is also threatening that the Islamic Republic governed from Tehran may cease to exist. The White House is growing tired of Iran’s constant delaying of the negotiations.
Friday’s framework agreement with Lebanon contains plans to let Lebanese forces take over control of certain of the areas currently controlled by the IDF. At the same time, the agreement starts a process to disarm Hezbollah, something the terrorist group will not accept without a fight.
Netanyahu called the agreement “a serious setback” for Iran and Hezbollah. In contrast to Iran’s demand that Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, the Prime Minister said that the framework agreement gives the IDF the opportunity to maintain its buffer zone there for as long as necessary.
“We will continue to maintain [the buffer zone] until Hezbollah and other terrorist groups are disarmed, until there is no longer any threat to Israel from Lebanon.”
Netanyahu repeated that neither Iran nor Hezbollah has any say in the ongoing negotiations between Israel, the USA and Lebanon.
A disarmed Hezbollah would be a major defeat for Tehran, since Hezbollah has for many years acted as proxy warriors for the Iranian regime.
The office of the Lebanese President, however, appears to undermine Netanyahu’s statements. On Saturday evening the office stated that the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had told US President Donald Trump that he is committed to implementing the agreement, in the hope that the USA will put pressure on Israel so that the IDF withdraws from southern Lebanon.
But even if Israel is willing to withdraw from certain areas, they will still allow the IDF to retain control over the entire part of the security zone that is necessary to protect the civilian population in northern Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister also said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “has in practice given the USA its support to this concept of a security zone that prevents Iran and Hezbollah from attacking us”.
“Our freedom of action is the freedom to avert any threat to IDF soldiers. It is a clear instruction [to the IDF soldiers]. I have said it and repeated it: If you see a threat, you must act. You do not only have the right to act – you have a duty to act against an immediate threat.”
According to Netanyahu, the IDF has killed 200 Hezbollah terrorists in the last two weeks.
Meets Resistance Internally in the Government
Not everyone in Israel’s government is satisfied with the framework agreement with Lebanon. Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is regarded as a right-wing hawk, demands that Netanyahu should present the agreement to the government for a vote, and called it a “major mistake”.
“Even if we will for the time being remain in most of the area [in the buffer zone], the Lebanese government will not disarm Hezbollah. Only IDF soldiers will crush Hezbollah; no one else will do it for us.”