A US official claims the IDF is partially withdrawing from southern Lebanon, according to an unverified report. Israeli officials deny the claim, pushing back on the latest round of withdrawal reports.
A single-source U.S. official claim that the IDF is partially withdrawing from southern Lebanon emerged on Thursday afternoon but was immediately denied by Israeli officials. The claim lands against a backdrop of an intense, multi-version thread of Israeli and Lebanese rebuttals to any suggestion of a troop pullout—with The Zioneer having reported a sequence of categorical denials throughout the day.
At 12:04 Jerusalem, The Zioneer first reported that an Israeli official told Al-Arabi no decision on a withdrawal had been made (version 3), followed within minutes by a joint denial from Lebanese and Israeli officials of a Reuters report claiming a pullout (versions 4–6). The IDF itself issued its strongest on-record rebuttal—'No force has moved anywhere'—at 12:08, reported by N13 / Army Radio, stating no political directive for a withdrawal had been received. Separately, at 11:54, The Zioneer cited a U.S. official's claim of a pullback in a separate background article, which is now contradicted by the thread's repeated denials.
The repeated denials come amid weeks of diplomatic pressure on Israel to finalize a full withdrawal from southern Lebanon under the November 2024 ceasefire framework, as The Zioneer reported on June 22 and June 21. Reports of U.S. struggles to convince Israel to withdraw, as well as proposals linking a pullback to Iranian de-escalation, have been in circulation, but Israeli security officials have consistently stated they will not withdraw.
The U.S. official's claim remains unverified and rests on a single anonymous source. It is contradicted by all Israeli and Lebanese official sources cited in the thread, and its accuracy cannot be assessed until further corroboration or an on-record statement from the U.S. or the IDF emerges.
7 developments
- DevelopingSenior Israeli security official: IDF will not withdraw from southern Lebanon
- DevelopingIsraeli officials dismiss reports of IDF withdrawal from points in Lebanon
- DevelopingDefense Minister Katz: No US demand to withdraw from Lebanon
- StrongSenior official: Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is a goodwill gesture toward Beirut
Source and signal
- Internal intake