Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said on Sunday that Israel will honour the framework agreement signed with Lebanon, calling it “historic and of great significance.” The statement came two days after Israel and Lebanon signed the US-brokered deal in Washington on Friday, and a day after Israeli forces bombed Lebanon over the weekend, according to Middle East Eye.
“We will honour the agreement and work to ensure its success,” Zamir said. “The real test now is how both sides behave on the ground, and the coming period will determine the course of the next phase.”
The framework agreement, signed at the US State Department on June 26, ties any Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon to the disarmament of Hezbollah. According to the text released by the State Department and reported by Al Jazeera, the deal describes a “sequenced process” under which the Lebanese army will restore “effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups.” Only after that disarmament is confirmed will Israel be permitted to “progressively redeploy” its forces, the framework states.
The agreement was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh, Al Jazeera reported. Hezbollah was not a party to the signing.
The deal outlines two “pilot zones” where Israeli troops will withdraw first, allowing the Lebanese military to “gradually assume full and effective security responsibility,” according to Al Jazeera. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that Israeli forces will remain in the buffer zone “until Hezbollah disarms and as long as there is a threat to the State of Israel.”
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem rejected the agreement on Saturday, calling it a “humiliation” and describing the linkage between Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah’s disarmament as “a very dangerous suggestion,” according to the Associated Press. Kassem said his group considers the deal “nonexistent” and pledged to keep fighting until Israel withdraws from Lebanese territory.
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah member of parliament, warned that any attempt by the Lebanese army to enforce the agreement could trigger civil war, according to Al Jazeera. He said Hezbollah will not surrender its weapons and will resist measures taken against it by Lebanese state forces.
Despite the signing, fighting has continued. The Lebanese state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh on Saturday, the Associated Press said. Israeli officials have also signalled the occupation could last. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military has been instructed “to prepare for an extended stay,” according to the AP, while Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has suggested Israel could remain in Lebanon for the long term.
Regional impact
The agreement marks the first formal framework between Israel and Lebanon since the failed 1983 accord, according to Al Jazeera, but it leaves the core dispute over Hezbollah’s weapons unresolved. Al Jazeera reported that the deal does not mandate Israeli withdrawal from the roughly one-fifth of Lebanese territory it currently occupies, tying any pullback instead to disarmament steps that Hezbollah has already refused to accept. The Associated Press reported that previous ceasefire arrangements between Lebanon and Israel were never fully implemented on the ground, raising questions about whether this framework will fare differently.
Lebanon’s top public prosecutor, Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj, ordered the heads of the country’s security agencies on Saturday to take measures to prevent riots, according to the Associated Press, after Hezbollah supporters blocked roads near Beirut’s southern suburbs in protest.
Background
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in fighting since March 2, when Hezbollah fired on Israel two days after the start of the Iran war, according to the Associated Press. Israel has killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon since fighting resumed, Al Jazeera reported, and has occupied close to a fifth of Lebanese territory. A prior ceasefire reached in November 2024 collapsed as Israel continued near-daily strikes and did not withdraw from the south. Multiple rounds of US-mediated talks in Washington since April 2026 produced temporary truce extensions before Friday’s framework agreement was reached.
What happens next
The framework calls for the Lebanese army to begin assuming security control in the two designated pilot zones once disarmament in those areas is verified, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli officials have said one such zone has already seen a partial military withdrawal. Hezbollah has indicated it will not comply with disarmament demands and will resist enforcement efforts by Lebanese state forces, according to the Associated Press. Lebanese authorities have ordered security agencies to prepare for potential unrest tied to the deal’s implementation.
