Visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged Beirut to keep disarming militant group Hezbollah, saying it would help ensure the withdrawal of Israel's army from Lebanese territory.
Israel has kept up regular strikes and maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group.
Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border.
Steinmeier said his visit was about "the demand that both sides fulfil their obligations under the ceasefire agreement and that the disarmament of Hezbollah here in Lebanon continues, thereby creating the conditions for the Israeli army to withdraw from southern Lebanon".
"Both sides are obliged to fulfil the ceasefire agreement -- I say this in Israel as well as in Lebanon," he told a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun, calling the deal "an opportunity".
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah -- which was badly weakened by war with Israel -- has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
Lebanon's army is expected to update the cabinet on Monday over its progress on disarmament and the second phase, which covers the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometres south of Beirut.
Aoun said Lebanon asked Germany to "demand the Israeli side implement the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the territories it occupies".
He also asked Germany to assist the Lebanese army and to play a "key role" after the departure of United Nations peacekeepers, whose mandate expires this year.
Germany has 179 personnel in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, according to the peacekeepers.
It has headed UNIFIL's maritime taskforce since 2021.
