Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Tuesday that troops remained in "five positions" in south Lebanon past a pullout deadline, vowing action against any truce violation by Hezbollah.
Israeli forces withdrew from border villages in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, under the deadline spelled out in a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
The military "will remain in a buffer zone in Lebanon with five control positions, and will continue to act forcefully and uncompromisingly against any Hezbollah violation," said Katz in a statement shortly after the extended deadline expired for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon under the November 27 truce deal.
He also said the army had erected new posts on the Israeli side of the border and sent reinforcements there.
“We are determined to provide full security to every northern community,” Katz said.
Lebanese soldiers moved into the areas from where the Israeli troops pulled out and began clearing roadblocks set up by Israeli forces and checking for unexploded ordnance. They blocked the main road leading to the villages, preventing anyone from entering while the military was looking for any explosives left behind.
Most of the villages waited by the roadside for permission to go and check on their homes but some pushed aside the roadblocks to march in. Many of their houses were demolished during the more than year-long conflict or in the two months after November’s ceasefire agreement when Israeli forces were still occupying the area.
