Israel unlikely to exit Lebanon without US 'putting the hammer down' [View all]
Whether Israel respects the interim agreement by pulling out of southern Lebanon and stops its attacks depends on how much pressure the US is prepared to exert on its ally, an analyst says.
“We see Trump responding to Iranian pressure. It therefore depends on how much Iran is going to use this as leverage during a negotiation,” Dan Perry, former chief of The Associated Press in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, told Al Jazeera.
Speaking from Tel Aviv, Perry said he doubts Israel will pull out “of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon without really having Trump putting the hammer down, as long as Hezbollah remains armed and potentially a threat for a cross-border incursion”.
From Israel’s perspective, there’s a lot of concern because this is viewed as a capitulation that basically casts aside all of the war goals of Israel and America, both throwing not just Israel under the bus, but also Lebanon, which is aligned with Israel in its desire to see Hezbollah disarmed.”
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/6/18/iran-war-live-trump-pezeshkian-sign-mou-to-end-fighting-reopen-hormuz
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