Qaani: Minimum requirement for Lebanon is a return to pre-war lines

BEIRUT — Esmail Qaani said that, at a minimum, any outcome in Lebanon must include an Israeli withdrawal to the positions it held before the outbreak of the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran at the end of February.

“Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of each one of us, and driving Israel out of the region is an achievable goal for Muslims,” wrote the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ external operations branch.

Israel occupies a “buffer zone” of more than 600 square kilometers in southern Lebanon, continuing its invasion in recent weeks beyond the “yellow line” unilaterally declared shortly after the cease-fire took effect on April 19. Before the war, the Israeli army occupied, since the 2023-2024 conflict, at least five positions on border heights it considered “strategic” in southern Lebanon.

According to the cease-fire agreement announced Wednesday night in Washington, Beirut and Tel Aviv will establish limited “pilot zones” in the south, where the Lebanese army will exercise “exclusive control over the territory, to the exclusion of any non-state actor.”