A police officer looks at the destroyed car of Lebanese journalists Al Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, and Al Manar reporter Ali Shaib, killed by a targeted Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Jezzine, in southern Lebanon, March 28, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

This photograph shows the destruction after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern coastal city of Tyre’s Al Hosh neighborhood, on March 19, 2026. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when militant group Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
| Photo Credit: AFP

France’s President Emmanuel Macron. File
| Photo Credit: AP

U.N vehicles drive past buildings destroyed by Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, as seen from Israel’s northernmost town of Metula. File
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Envoy Tom Barrack on Monday (August 18, 2025) called on Israel to honour commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group.

Under the November truce, which ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group was to withdraw its fighters from near the Israeli border and weapons were to come under the control of the Lebanese state.

Israel was to withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them at five border points it deems strategic and has continued to strike Lebanon, threatening to do so until Hezbollah has been disarmed.

“There’s always a step-by-step approach but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply,” Barrack said following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

“We’re all moving in the right direction,” he said after meeting parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said Israel’s commitment to the ceasefire and its troop withdrawal was “the gateway to stability in Lebanon”, a statement said.

‘Progress’

Asked by reporters whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory and stop its violations, Barrack said that “that’s exactly the next step” needed.

“We need participation on the part of Israel, and we need an economic plan for prosperity, restoration and renovation,” the US diplomat added, with Lebanon weighed down by an economic crisis.

Barrack said Washington was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is”, adding that “in the next few weeks you’re going to see progress on all sides.”

“It means a better life for the people… and at least the beginning of a roadway to a different kind of dialogue” in the region, he said.

The visit comes after Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by year end — an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.

The cabinet has also tackled a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Lebanon to take action.

The cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text, which lists 11 objectives including to “ensure the sustainability” of the ceasefire, and to phase out “the armed presence of all non-state actors, including Hezbollah” across all Lebanese territory.

It also provides for demarcating Lebanon’s land borders with Israel and neighbouring Syria, and a process involving the international community to support reconstruction.

‘Lebanese process’

Aoun told Barrack that what was needed was for “other parties to adhere to the contents” of the joint declaration, “more support for the Lebanese army”, and expedited steps towards reconstruction, the presidency said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Washington needed to “fulfil its responsibility in pressuring Israel halt hostilities”, withdraw troops and release Lebanese prisoners it holds.

Hezbollah, the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed to fight plans to disarm, saying that “the resistance will not surrender its weapons while… occupation persists”.

On Sunday, Aoun told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel authorities would do “everything possible… to spare Lebanon any internal or external shock”.

If Lebanon rejected the US plan, “then Israel will intensify its attacks, Lebanon will be economically isolated, and none of us will be able to respond to the aggression”, he said.

Barrack on Monday stressed that “dealing with Hezbollah, as we’ve always said, is a Lebanese process”.

Published – August 18, 2025 10:24 pm IST

Israel attacked the Hezbollah militant organization in the Bekaa region of Lebanon.

Beirut:

The Israeli military is all but certain to miss a Sunday deadline to withdraw from southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal that ended its war with Hezbollah two months ago.

Under the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that took effect on November 27, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period that ends on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Lebanese army said a delay in implementing the agreement was the “result of the procrastination in the withdrawal from the Israeli enemy’s side”.

Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in areas further east.

The deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that “the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state” and so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.

“The withdrawal process is conditional upon the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, with Hezbollah withdrawing beyond the Litani River,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

It added that “the gradual withdrawal process will continue in full coordination with the United States”, a key ally and one of the monitors of the ceasefire.

The Lebanese army said it was “ready to continue its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws”.

‘Scorched Earth’

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayad said on Saturday that Israel’s “excuses” were a pretext to “pursue a scorched earth policy” in border areas that would make the return of displaced residents “impossible”.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who took office earlier this month, spoke on Saturday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, whose government is also involved in overseeing the truce.

According to a statement from his office, Aoun spoke of the “need to oblige Israel to respect the terms of the deal in order to maintain stability in the south”.

Aoun also said Israel must “end its successive violations, including the destruction of border villages… which would prevent the return of residents”.

Macron’s office, in its summary of the conversation, said the French president had called on all parties to the Lebanon ceasefire to honour their commitments as soon as possible.

The fragile ceasefire has generally held, even as the warring sides have repeatedly traded accusations of violating it.

The Israeli military has continued to carry out frequent strikes which it says targeted Hezbollah fighters, and Lebanese state media has reported that Israeli forces were carrying out demolitions in villages they control.

The November 27 deal ended two months of full-scale war which had followed months of low-intensity exchanges.

Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire with the Israeli army the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas which triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah warned on Thursday that “any violation of the 60-day deadline will be considered a flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement and “an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty”.

The group refrained from any threat to resume attacks on Israel but said the Lebanese state should use “all means necessary… to restore the land and wrest it from the clutches of the occupation”.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

A US Army veteran who allegedly went to Lebanon and Syria to try to join Hezbollah has been indicted for attempting to support a “terrorist” organization, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, a dual US-Irish national, was arrested in Chicago last month and brought to Pennsylvania on Monday to face charges, the department said in a statement.

According to the indictment, Molloy traveled to Lebanon in August and attempted to join Hezbollah, which Washington has designated as a “terrorist” group.

When his efforts were rebuffed, he went to Syria in an attempt to join the organization there.

Molloy returned to the United States and allegedly continued his attempts to join Hezbollah, communicating online with individuals in Lebanon.

According to the Justice Department, Molloy promoted violence against Jewish people on social media and said in a WhatsApp exchange with a family member that his “master plan was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews.”

Molloy faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of providing material support to a “terrorist” organization.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)