{"id":514025,"date":"2026-06-27T17:21:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514025\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:21:22","slug":"israel-braces-for-northern-escalation-after-lebanon-deal-hezbollah-and-iran-are-los","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514025\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel braces for northern escalation after Lebanon deal: \u2018Hezbollah and Iran are los"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHezbollah and Iran are losing it,\u201d a security official said in a briefing. \u201cIf Hezbollah attacks, we will respond accordingly and act to remove the threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05ea\u05e7\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea<\/p>\n

IDF strikes in southern Lebanon <\/p>\n

(Photo: REUTERS\/Stringer)<\/p>\n

According to the official, Israel\u2019s assessment is that Hezbollah \u201cwill not sit idly by,\u201d but he stressed that Israel faces no restrictions on its freedom of action. \u201cIf it attacks, we will remove threats and respond. We are also prepared for escalation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Unlike in the past, Israel is no longer operating according to an automatic equation in which every attack on Israel is met with a strike in Beirut\u2019s Dahieh district, Hezbollah\u2019s stronghold in the Lebanese capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach case will be examined on its own merits,\u201d the official said. \u201cIf Israeli communities are attacked, a decision will be made on how to respond. Dahieh may also be a target, but it is not an automatic response.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the U.S. position, the official said Israel believes Washington will not rush to restrict Israeli action against Hezbollah if the terror group tries to sabotage the agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHitting Hezbollah also serves the Lebanese government and the agreement mediated by the Americans,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe United States will not want to allow Iran and Hezbollah to undermine the diplomatic process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official added that, from Israel\u2019s perspective, \u201cLebanon\u2019s sovereignty is not harmed when Israel strikes Hezbollah,\u201d and described the framework as \u201ca major diplomatic and security achievement\u201d that realizes the IDF\u2019s gains on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a framework agreement, but a good start for what comes next,\u201d he said. \u201cThe greatest achievement is that Israel is not withdrawing from the yellow line until Hezbollah is disarmed throughout Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05e9\u05e8<\/a>\"\u05e9\u05e8<\/p>\n

Defense Minister Israel Katz <\/p>\n

(Photo: Defense Ministry)<\/p>\n

The official also revealed details about contacts surrounding the agreement\u2019s security annex. According to him, Defense Minister Israel Katz was personally involved in the final wording and insisted that the first pilot areas<\/a> not be inside the \u201cyellow area,\u201d the anti-tank line held by the IDF in south Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese side, he said, insisted on that demand, and the dispute extended the talks by another day. In the end, the sides agreed on a pilot that \u201cbites into the expanded line,\u201d in areas seized by the IDF over the past two weeks, allowing Lebanon\u2019s president to present the public with the beginning of an Israeli withdrawal trend.<\/p>\n

According to the official, the pilot is expected to begin in the coming days, subject to the Lebanese army\u2019s readiness, and is set to start simultaneously in two areas.<\/p>\n

The remarks came after Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that Israel was preparing for a prolonged military presence in south Lebanon, as reports in Lebanon said Israeli strikes hit the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area shortly after Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem rejected the framework agreement signed between Israel and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The IDF said the strikes were carried out to remove threats. Under the understandings with the United States and Lebanon, Israel does not strike inside Lebanon except to remove immediate threats to its forces.<\/p>\n

Katz called the agreement \u201ca historic event and an important diplomatic and security achievement for the State of Israel,\u201d saying it could shape \u201ca new and safer reality\u201d on the northern border and in Lebanon for the first time in decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is not withdrawing from Lebanon and is maintaining the security zone in south Lebanon, including Beaufort Ridge, while the area is clear of residents and terror infrastructure above and below ground,\u201d Katz said. He added that Israel was preserving the IDF\u2019s freedom of action to thwart threats against soldiers and northern communities.<\/p>\n

According to Katz, the key principle in the agreement is that \u201cthere will be no redeployment of Israel in south Lebanon, no withdrawal, as long as the Hezbollah terror organization is not disarmed throughout Lebanon and the security of northern residents is ensured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test will be in implementing the agreement, and many challenges are still expected,\u201d Katz said. \u201cThe prime minister and I instructed the IDF to prepare for a prolonged stay in the security zone and to prepare accordingly to defend IDF soldiers and remove threats from northern communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05d6\u05db"\u05dc<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d6\u05db"\u05dc<\/p>\n

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem <\/p>\n

(Photo: Al Manar TV\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

Earlier Saturday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem sent a message to the Lebanese government, attacking the framework agreement it signed with Israel. He warned that the document \u201cgives the Zionist entity legitimacy to annex the lands it occupied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qassem said the connection made in the framework between Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal was \u201ca very dangerous proposal that crosses every red line.\u201d<\/p>\n

He called the agreement \u201chumiliating,\u201d a \u201csurrender of sovereignty\u201d and \u201cvoid,\u201d and said Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament was an internal Lebanese issue in which \u201cthe Israeli enemy has no right to interfere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue as a resistance on the ground in order to defeat the occupation,\u201d Qassem said. \u201cWe did not leave the field in difficult circumstances, and we will not leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah is not a party to the agreement, and its supporters took to the streets of Beirut overnight, waving the terror group\u2019s flags, damaging property and clashing with Lebanese security forces. According to reports in Lebanon, the Lebanese army used tear gas against rioters near the road to Beirut airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHezbollah and Iran are losing it,\u201d a security official said in a briefing. \u201cIf Hezbollah attacks, we will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-514025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}