The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Naim Qassem, said today that it is up to the Lebanese government to force Israel to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon by February 18, the new deadline set by the ceasefire agreement.
The agreement, which entered into force on November 27, was reached after two months of open war between Israel and the pro-Iranian armed movement Hezbollah, which initiated hostilities on the Israeli-Lebanese border in support of the Palestinians, following the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 between Israel and Hamas.
Qassem said the Lebanese government's decision to ban Iranian flights was made "on the orders of Israel."
Hezbollah supporters have demonstrated in recent days against the ban, notably by blocking the road to Beirut International Airport.
Qassem called for a large turnout on February 23 for the commemoration of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader killed in September in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb.
Long a dominant force in Lebanese politics, Hezbollah is now weakened in the war against Israel after its leadership was largely decimated.
The removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Hezbollah, dealt a blow to its arms supply chain.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send a delegation of negotiators to Cairo tomorrow to discuss "continuing the implementation of the first phase of the agreement" on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, his office announced tonight.
"Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the negotiating delegation to travel to Cairo tomorrow to discuss the continuation of the implementation of the first phase of the agreement. After the government meeting scheduled for tomorrow, the team will receive instructions to continue negotiations on the second phase," the statement added.
The war could resume in early March unless an agreement is reached on a more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which requires the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the ceasefire.
Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions and its "aggression" in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday after meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Reuters reported.
Speaking after meeting with Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said they had a "very productive discussion" on a number of issues, "none more important than Iran."
"Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in confronting the threats from Iran. We agreed that the ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons and we also agreed that Iranian aggression in the region must be withdrawn," Netanyahu said.
Rubio said that behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens the peace and stability of the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran.
Reuters reports that the Israeli-Iranian hostility stretches back decades through a history of secret wars and attacks by land, sea, air and cyberspace. Iran, which says it enriches uranium for peaceful purposes, also supports groups across the Middle East that describe themselves as an "axis of resistance" to Israel and US influence in the region.
The axis includes not only Hamas, the Palestinian group that ignited the war in Gaza with an attack on Israel in October 2023, but also the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Houthi movement in Yemen, and various Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.
In the 16 months since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Israel has killed top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and Israel and Iran have exchanged limited retaliatory attacks.
Netanyahu said Israel had dealt a "strong blow" to Iran since the start of the Gaza war and said that with the support of US President Donald Trump, "I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job."
Thanking Rubio for his "unequivocal support" for Israel's policy in Gaza, Netanyahu said that Israel and the US under Trump share a common strategy in the Palestinian enclave, where a fragile ceasefire is in place.
"I want to assure everyone listening to us now, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us," he said.
Rubio added that Hamas cannot continue as a military or governmental force, and as long as it stands as a force that can govern or as a force that can threaten to use violence, peace becomes impossible.
Israel launched its offensive on Gaza after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1.200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. More than 48.000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been devastated, and most of the territory's pre-war population of 2,3 million has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.
Trump angered the Arab world and surprised US allies by declaring that the US would take over Gaza, relocate its Palestinian residents and turn it into an international beach resort.
His ambitions have fueled Palestinian fears of a repeat of the "Nakba," or catastrophe of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes in the war that led to the birth of the state of Israel.
Rubio described Trump's plan as "not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that is bold... and something that honestly took courage and vision to outline."
"It may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat ourselves over and over again and end up in the same place," he said.
Arab states are working to present an alternative vision for Gaza, which was plagued by poverty and unemployment even before the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Rubio was cautious about Syria, which has been torn apart by civil war and will need billions of dollars to rebuild after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Iran.
Assad was overthrown by rebels led by Islamist Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda member and leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.
Shaara was declared interim president in late January, consolidating his power less than two months after leading the campaign that ousted Assad.
"While the fall of Assad is certainly promising and important, if Syria replaces one destabilizing force with another, that is not a positive development. That is something we will watch very carefully as we try to devise our own strategy in terms of how to approach events in Syria," Rubio said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio today fully supported Israel's war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas must be eradicated, casting doubt on the future of the fragile truce in the Middle East.
Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face opposition from Arab leaders over President Donald Trump's proposal to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and build US-owned tourist resorts there.
Netanyahu welcomed the plan and said he and Trump have a shared strategy for the future of Gaza.
Rubio said Hamas cannot continue to exist as a military or ruling force.
"As long as it exists as a power that can govern, or as a power that can threaten to use violence, peace is impossible," he said.
Such a vocabulary could potentially complicate efforts to resume talks with Hamas, which, despite heavy losses in the war, still controls Gaza.
The remarks come just two weeks before the end of the first phase of the ceasefire. The second phase, which involves a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, is yet to be achieved after negotiations.
Continuing the war could be a death sentence for the remaining hostages, and may fail to destroy Hamas, which survived Israel's 15-month war and quickly re-established control of Gaza when a ceasefire took effect last month.
Netanyahu has announced his readiness to continue the war after the current phase of the ceasefire and offered Hamas the chance to surrender and send its leaders into exile. Hamas has rejected such a proposal.
Rubio is also scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia during the tour.
Rubio will not visit Egypt, Jordan and Qatar, close US allies that have refused to accept any influx of Palestinian refugees. Trump has occasionally suggested that he could cut US aid to them, which could be devastating to their economies, if they do not comply with those demands.
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Hamas said an Israeli strike on Sunday, February 16, killed three police officers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a day after Israel and the militants exchanged hostages and prisoners.
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