Israel demands Beirut bar 'unacceptable' Lebanese army officers from deploying south
Israel and the US are seeking to push the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and entrench the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon
Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported on 6 July that Tel Aviv has handed Lebanese authorities a list containing the names of several senior officers in the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), whose deployment in southern Lebanon it rejects.
The list was passed to Lebanese authorities by US mediators as part of a "framework agreement" reached between Lebanon and Israel in Washington on 26 June.
Tel Aviv reportedly claimed these officers have been “leaking information to Hezbollah.”
The letter was shared as part of a mechanism established through a security annex to the agreement.
Israel and the US initially kept the text of the annex secret at the request of the Lebanese government, which wished to avoid further public backlash.
The annex includes no timetable for any Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory. Instead, such a withdrawal will be linked to what Israel describes as the Lebanese government's "success on the ground" in disarming Hezbollah.
Israel and the US hope to use the LAF as a proxy to disarm Hezbollah, whose forces have defended the country while withstanding nearly two years of relentless Israeli airstrikes and ground operations.
However, many LAF members remain loyal to the country.
In April, LAF Commander General Rudolph Haykal stated that Lebanon's "first enemy" is Israel, which "insists on continuous violations of Lebanon's sovereignty and the security of its citizens."
On 6 June, an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed a Lebanese brigadier-general, a captain, and a private as they traveled in a military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road.
The victims were identified as Brig. Gen. Samer Sabra, Cpt. Elie Khoury, and Pte. Hassan Ghazal.
Lebanese authorities signed the US-brokered deal with Israel after several months of direct talks with Tel Aviv conducted in violation of Lebanon's constitution.
The US–Lebanon–Israel deal stipulates that Hezbollah must be disarmed before any withdrawal of occupation forces can take place.
Israel currently occupies at least 6 percent of Lebanese territory and continues to demolish many villages along the Israeli border.
The deal also bars Lebanon from filing legitimate international legal complaints against Israel, which has killed over 4,000 Lebanese and displaced over a million since the start of March this year.
The clauses of the framework have been viewed by many, including those outside of Hezbollah's support base, as legitimizing further Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.
Beirut's signing of the deal undermined Iranian efforts to block Israeli attacks on Lebanon as part of the Memorandum of Understanding that Iran signed with Washington in June. The first clause of the MoU calls for Israel to halt its attacks on Lebanon and respect its sovereignty.
Israeli officials have openly refused to withdraw from Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, while religious-nationalist Israelis have vowed to establish Jewish settlements in the territories the military now occupies.
Israel also seeks to control the water supply from Lebanon's Litani River.
Meanwhile, both Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and Hezbollah have publicly vowed that the Lebanon–Israel deal "will not pass" and that occupying Israeli forces must be expelled.