Beirut: Most military sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been placed under Lebanese army control, a source close to the group said on Saturday.
A November 27 ceasefire that ended more than a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war, stipulated that only United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon’s army should be deployed in the country’s south.
The deal required the Iran-backed militant group to dismantle its remaining military infrastructure in the south and move its fighters north of the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Israeli border.
“Out of 265 Hezbollah military positions identified south of the Litani, the movement has ceded about 190 to the army,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Under the ceasefire, Israel was to complete its troop withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems strategic.
Israel has continued to strike what it says are Hezbollah infrastructure or members of the group in Lebanon.
The United States deputy special envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, discussed disarming Hezbollah with senior Lebanese figures during her visit to the country a week ago, a Lebanese official said.
In an interview with Lebanese television channel LBCI, Ortagus said that “we continue to press on this government to fully fulfill the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias.”
She said it should happen “as soon as possible.”
The United States chairs a committee, which also includes France, tasked with overseeing the ceasefire.
Following the attack against Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza in October 2023, Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Months of cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces degenerated into full-blown war last September, leaving Hezbollah severely weakened.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 4,000 people were killed in the hostilities.

CAIRO: Hamas expects “real progress” toward a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, an official said, as senior leaders from the Palestinian movement hold talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Saturday.
The scheduled talks come days after US President Donald Trump suggested an agreement to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza was close to being finalized.
A Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian group anticipated the meeting with Egyptian mediators would yield significant progress.
“We hope the meeting will achieve real progress toward reaching an agreement to end the war, halt the aggression and ensure the full withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza,” the official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The delegation will be led by the group’s chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya, he said.
According to the official, Hamas has not yet received any new ceasefire proposals, despite Israeli media reports suggesting that Israel and Egypt had exchanged draft documents outlining a potential ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
“However, contacts and discussions with mediators are ongoing,” he added, accusing Israel of “continuing its aggression” in Gaza.
The Times of Israel reported that Egypt’s proposal would involve the release of eight living hostages and eight bodies, in exchange for a truce lasting between 40 and 70 days and a substantial release of Palestinian prisoners.

EVACUTAIONS CONTINUE 

President Trump said during a cabinet meeting this week that “we’re getting close to getting them (hostages in Gaza) back.”
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was also quoted in an Israeli media report as saying “a very serious deal is taking shape, it’s a matter of days.”
Israel resumed its Gaza strikes on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.
Since then, more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory to which Israel cut off aid more than a month ago.
Dozens of these strikes have killed “only women and children,” according to a report by UN human rights office.
The report also warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders were resulting in the “forcible transfer” of people into ever-shrinking areas, raising “real concern as to the future viability of Palestinians as a group in Gaza.”
On Saturday, Israel continued with its offensive.
Gaza’s civil defense agency reported an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City on Saturday morning.
AFP footage of the aftermath of the strike showed the bodies of four men, wrapped in white shrouds, at a local hospital, while several individuals gathered to offer prayers before the funeral.
The ceasefire that ended on March 17 had led to the release of 33 hostages from Gaza — eight of them deceased — and the release of around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. It resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Friday that at least 1,542 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,912.