The Israelis are up-in-arms about the deconfliction mechanism the U.S. and Iran agreed to for overseeing the ceasefire in Lebanon. It would exclude Israel and limit Israeli military action to only responding to “imminent threats,” rather than to the broader category of “emerging threats,” Channel 12 reported, without citing sources, according to The Times of Israel. According to Channel 12, the new oversight body includes the U.S., Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and Pakistan, but not Israel, whereas the monitoring arrangement set up for the November 2024 ceasefire included representatives from Israel, Lebanon, the United States, the United Nations, and France.
Shortly after the report aired, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a Hebrew-language statement stressing that Israeli troops in southern Lebanon have “full freedom of action” against “direct or emerging threats” against them. “The directive that the defense minister and I have given the IDF is clear and has not changed: Our forces in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat against them or against residents of northern Israel. The IDF faces no restrictions in this regard,” Netanyahu said.
A later report on Channel 12 had Netanyahu “panicking” over the new deconfliction mechanism. According to ToI, a senior American official denied to the network that Israel is excluded from the mechanism, stressing that, given Washington and Jerusalem’s close ties, a direct U.S.-Iran channel will only benefit Israel. It is unclear whether the official means Israel will have a formal role in the mechanism or whether its interests will be represented indirectly through coordination with Washington.
