{"id":563487,"date":"2026-07-28T12:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/563487\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:36:13","slug":"idf-retreat-from-lebanon-depends-on-hezbollah-disarmament-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/563487\/","title":{"rendered":"IDF retreat from Lebanon depends on Hezbollah disarmament, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel would withdraw the IDF troops from Lebanese territory only in exchange for Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and the restoration of Lebanese state sovereignty<\/a> throughout the country, senior US administration officials told Walla on Tuesday, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe framework sets out a clear, conditions-based deal between Israel and Lebanon: Israel will redeploy its troops from Lebanese territory in exchange for Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and the restoration of the Lebanese state\u2019s sovereignty over its entire territory,\u201d the officials said.<\/p>\n

They stressed that implementing the understandings was intended to achieve three goals: restoring Lebanese sovereignty, dismantling Hezbollah\u2019s terrorist infrastructure, and allowing Israel to return to secure borders once the security threat has been removed.<\/p>\n

The officials said that when the pilot program began last week, the IDF also started redeploying troops in the Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh area. They added that the move was a direct result of talks held between Israel and Lebanon in Rome about 10 days earlier, and that the US would continue working with both sides until the framework was fully implemented.<\/p>\n

Asked about a possible Israeli withdrawal from Syria, an issue that has remained unresolved for some time and has been addressed by both Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the officials did not respond, apparently deliberately.<\/p>\n

\"AA Lebanese army officer stands beside a building damaged in an Israeli air strike, in Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, a village in southern Lebanon, following the deployment of Lebanese soldiers in one of three pilot zones after the withdrawal of Israeli forces under a US-brokered plan, July 26, 20 (credit: REUTERS\/ZOHRA BENSEMRA)<\/p>\n

The message came hours before Netanyahu\u2019s visit to Washington, amid the aftermath of the campaign against Iran and information Netanyahu was expected to present to Trump regarding Iran\u2019s progress toward obtaining a nuclear weapon<\/a>, despite the damage it sustained during the war. Regarding US contacts with Tehran, Netanyahu was expected to urge Trump to take action.<\/p>\n

\u2018If we do not reach an agreement with Iran, we will return to what we were doing on Sunday\u2019<\/p>\n

The assessment, however, is that Netanyahu\u2019s influence over Trump is not what it was in February. This is due in part to pressure on Trump from people in his circle who argue that the war failed to achieve its objective, criticism from the US Right that he was being dragged along by Netanyahu, and higher gasoline prices in the US, which have not substantially declined since the ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to Michigan, Trump was asked whether he and Netanyahu were aligned on Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty close. There\u2019s a small difference between us, but we\u2019re pretty close,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

He added that Iran had suffered a severe blow during the previous two weeks and that Tehran had approached the US seeking to resume negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a chance we can reach an agreement. If we do, great. If not, we\u2019ll go back to doing what we were doing on Sunday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Netanyahu preferred that the US pursue an agreement with Iran or continue the attacks, Trump avoided answering directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBibi was great. We\u2019ll see how all this develops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018No one will tell me what we should or should not sell\u2019<\/p>\n

Turkey also came up during the conversation. Against the backdrop of reports of disagreements between Trump and Netanyahu over the possibility of selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey<\/a>, Trump said: \u201cTurkey has been a great ally for me. Erdo\u011fan has done a good job in Syria. No one is going to tell me what we should or shouldn\u2019t sell. Turkey has a tremendous military, and it has been great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan \u201cis not a big fan of Bibi or Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump was also asked whether he had received messages from Riyadh regarding Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t talked about it,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

During the conversation with reporters, Trump also addressed Iran\u2019s condition following the war, claiming that \u201cthey are at 8% of what they were four months ago.\u201d He added that without US intervention, Israel would have faced an existential threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had not intervened and if I had not destroyed their nuclear facilities, Israel would have been wiped out,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

The Trump-Netanyahu meeting, scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m. Israel time, was expected to be closed to the press. The two were then expected to attend the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham.<\/p>\n

Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and the restoration of Lebanese government sovereignty<\/p>\n

Ahead of the meeting, the White House continued to present a consistent position: The implementation of the arrangement in Lebanon remained a central administration objective, but one based on clear conditions, foremost among them Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and the restoration of the Lebanese government\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Trump signaled that despite his close position with Netanyahu on Iran, certain differences remained between them and could arise during their White House meeting.<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, one point already appeared clear: Netanyahu was expected to arrive with something to offer, and the security cabinet\u2019s approval for the entry of a stabilization force under the peace council into Gaza<\/a> was apparently a step in that direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel would withdraw the IDF troops from Lebanese territory only in exchange for Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament and the restoration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,86,25601,1031,81925,35767,88,87806,89,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-563487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-hezbollah","tag-hezbollah-disarmament","tag-idf","tag-israel-and-lebanon","tag-israel-defense-news","tag-lebanon","tag-lebanon-israel-war","tag-lebanon-war","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563487","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=563487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}