For the first time since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the Lebanese government's efforts to disarm Hezbollah and expressed his willingness to reward them. 

Praising the decision of the Lebanese cabinet earlier this month to advance a Hezbollah disarmament plan, Netanyahu said Monday that Israeli forces could begin withdrawing from southern Lebanon.

Israeli sources told Al-Monitor that the Trump administration is pressuring Netanyahu to make concessions to the Lebanese government in exchange for its efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Netanyahu accepts the US proposal presented to the Lebanese government in principle, but has yet to instruct the Israeli military to retreat from positions in the south of Lebanon or to slow or halt its near-daily strikes on Hezbollah targets, the sources said. 

Netanyahu's unusual statement of support for the Lebanese government came just three days before the United Nations Security Council voted to prolong the mandate of the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in the south of Lebanon just until December 2026. The 10,000 UNIFIL soldiers in the area will start leaving the region early in 2027 and conclude the decades-long mission. The Israeli Foreign Ministry praised the decision, saying the UN force had failed to prevent the empowerment of Hezbollah.