By Tala Ramadan
(Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Hezbollah was seeking to rearm and that Israel would exercise its right to self-defence under last year’s ceasefire accord if Lebanon failed to disarm the militant group.
At the start of a cabinet meeting Netanyahu said Israel would “act as necessary”, if Lebanon does not take steps to prevent its territory from becoming a renewed front.
The U.S. brokered a truce in November 2024 between Lebanon and Israel after more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, but Israeli strikes across the border have continued sporadically.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that it had killed four Hezbollah members.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also said the Lebanese government must fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove the group from southern Lebanon.
Katz said maximum enforcement efforts would continue and intensify to protect Israeli residents in the north.
Under the ceasefire accord, Lebanon agreed that only state security forces should bear arms, which means Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.
Lebanese army sources told Reuters they had blown up so many Hezbollah arms caches that they had run out of explosives and they expect to complete their sweep of the country’s south by the end of the year.
Once the dominant political party in Lebanon, Hezbollah was severely weakened by the war with Israel, which killed thousands of fighters and longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has publicly committed to the ceasefire and has not opposed the seizures of unmanned weapons caches in the south. It has not fired on Israel since the November truce.
However, it insists the disarmament, as mentioned in the text, only applies to the south of Lebanon and has hinted conflict is possible if the state moves against the group.
(Reporting by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Sharon Singleton)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.