Al-Akhbar: Hochstein Guarantees Full “Israeli” Withdrawal before End of Ceasefire

By Staff

Al-Akhbar Lebanese daily reported on Saturday that the US presidential envoy Amos Hochstein reassured the Lebanese that Washington guarantees a complete withdrawal of “Israeli” occupation forces from the south before the end of the sixty-day period.

According to sources, Hochstein discussed the timeline during the meeting held by the supervisory committee for the implementation of the agreement, upon his arrival to Lebanon last Monday.

He later informed House Speaker Nabih Berri PM Najib Mikati and the army commander [the elected President] that he had communicated with the “Israeli” side and obtained a detailed timeline for the withdrawal, and that January 26 of this year would be the last date for the presence of “Israeli” forces in Lebanon.

He requested that the army reinforces its military units and raise its readiness level for deployment and filling the vacuum, and ensure that Hezbollah hands over all his weapons in the south of the Litani River to the army.

Hochstein learned from the army command that there is a current deal with Hezbollah on the matter, and that the steps will proceed naturally and that the army will announce after a while that the area south of the Litani is free of any military presence or weapons outside the Lebanese state authority.

Meanwhile, the Hebrew "Walla!" website quoted an American official as saying: “’Israelis’ will soon receive a message from around the world confirming that they are no longer able to remain in Lebanon."

It added that “the election of the Lebanese army commander as the country’s new president is expected to put more pressure on ‘Israel’ to complete the withdrawal from south Lebanon by the end of this month.”

But what Hochstein couldn’t provide, was a guarantee to halt the occupation forces' violations of the 1701 resolution.

Instead, he justified, like the committee chairman, “Israel's” actions by saying they were due to the weapons found by the “Israeli” forces, and that “Israel” is working to prevent Hezbollah from rearming or transferring weapons to new locations.