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The Israeli armed forces attacked southern Lebanon this Saturday, just 24 hours after the governments of Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement in Washington aimed at laying the groundwork for lasting peace, as reported by the EFE agency.
The bombings on Saturday resulted in at least 47 dead and 97 injured on Lebanese territory, according to figures from the country's Ministry of Health, marking a new rupture in the fragile diplomatic process initiated by Washington.
The agreement had been signed on Friday by the ambassadors of both countries —Yechiel Leiter for Israel and Nada Hamadeh for Lebanon— in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described it as "the first step toward peace." The Lebanese president Joseph Aoun referred to it as "the beginning of the beginning."
The agreement, published by the State Department, establishes a "reciprocal and gradual" process through which the Lebanese Army would regain effective sovereignty over its territory, but contingent upon the verified disarmament of Hezbollah.
The Israeli withdrawal would initially be limited to two "pilot zones" in the southern part of the country, located beyond the boundaries of the so-called "buffer zone" that Israel established in April.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the agreement in a video statement, but made it clear that Israel will keep troops in southern Lebanon indefinitely until Hezbollah lays down its arms, a stance that contradicts the spirit of the newly signed pact.
Hezbollah's reaction was one of absolute rejection. The group's Secretary General, Naim Qasem, stated that the agreement is null and invalid and accused the Lebanese government of betraying the people.
“Linking the Israeli withdrawal to the disarmament of Hezbollah is a very dangerous proposal that crosses all red lines and turns Lebanon into a puppet in the hands of the Israeli enemy,” Qasem stated.
The militia leader described the text as "humiliating, shameful, and a renunciation of sovereignty," and pointed out that the negotiations that Beirut initiated with Tel Aviv on March 2 represented a "free concession" and a "stab in the back" to the movements that fight against Israel.
Hezbollah demands instead that the memorandum of understanding signed on June 17 between the United States and Iran be implemented, which includes the possibility of a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, in contrast to the framework agreement from Friday, which conditions it on the disarmament of the group.
The agreement reached on Friday is the result of five rounds of negotiations mediated by Washington since March 2026, when the current phase of the conflict erupted following Hezbollah's rocket launches against Israel. Since then, the Israeli offensive has resulted in over 3,700 deaths in Lebanon and the destruction of approximately 36,000 homes in the southern region of the country.
The agreement also establishes a trilateral military coordination group among the United States, Israel, and Lebanon, and commits Washington to providing 100 million dollars in humanitarian assistance, of which 30 million will be allocated to strengthening the operational capacity of the Lebanese armed forces.
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