An American official involved in the Lebanon ceasefire pilot warned Monday evening that any Hezbollah attempt to disrupt the process, infiltrate restricted areas, or rearm will severely damage the prospects for reconstruction and peace, according to a report.
The US official's warning, delivered Monday afternoon, lands as the first direct American threat to Hezbollah over the pilot zones, which were launched earlier the same day. At 16:05 Jerusalem, the US State Department announced the start of pilot zone operations in three southern Lebanon villages: Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar al-Gharbiya. A senior US official told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid that any Hezbollah attempt to disrupt the process or rearm in these areas "will severely harm the chances for reconstruction and peace, as well as the interests of the Lebanese people." The official's remarks were part of the same announcement that confirmed the Lebanese Armed Forces would clear the areas of weapons and terror infrastructure.
The pilot zone program has been in development for weeks, following the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement mediated by the US. Throughout the day, The Zioneer's coverage evolved from initial reports of the pilot villages to detailed descriptions of their locations: two villages (Froun and Srifa) are south of the Litani River and were not previously under IDF control, while Zawtar al-Gharbiya lies north of the Litani, inside Israel's buffer zone, where IDF forces are still stationed pending withdrawal. The thread of reports, all published at 16:05 Jerusalem, reflects multiple confirmations from Israeli outlets and official US sources, corroborating the details.
The warning comes amid domestic Israeli criticism of the agreement. As The Zioneer reported on Sunday, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed Hezbollah operatives were contacting him to complain that the deal is bad for them. On Friday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called to exploit the situation to collapse the ceasefire agreement and strike Hezbollah targets. The US official's statement directly counters such calls by linking reconstruction to Hezbollah's compliance.
The exact wording of the US official's threat has been attributed to a single source — Barak Ravid's report — and has not been independently corroborated by other outlets, though the official's identity and the substance of the warning are consistent with the US State Department's public announcement. What remains unclear is how the US will monitor compliance in the pilot zones and what specific consequences would follow a violation.
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Source and signal
- Internal intake