Published on 6/20/2026
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Last update: 21:12 (Mecca time)
Israeli Channel 12 reported on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli army to cease fire without withdrawing from the areas of control in southern Lebanon, at a time when the Lebanese Hezbollah held Israel fully responsible for violating the ceasefire announced on Friday.
The Israeli channel said that the decision of Netanyahu and Katz came in coordination with the United States, and indicated that the ceasefire instructions were conveyed to the forces operating on the ground.
In turn, the Walla website quoted an Israeli military source as saying that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir issued instructions for a ceasefire in southern Lebanon at the conclusion of a meeting to assess the security situation.
US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed, remotely on Wednesday night, the memorandum of understanding that stipulated stopping the war, including the Lebanon front, opening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports. This is supposed to be followed by negotiations aimed at reaching, within 60 days, a final agreement that includes the most important files Iranian nuclear program.
Subsequently, an American official announced on Friday that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire, with mediation in which Iran and Qatar participated. However, the situation on the ground did not witness a noticeable change.
300 breaches and assaults
In Beirut, Lebanese Hezbollah announced that Israel bears full responsibility for violating the ceasefire, while Israeli strikes were targeting southern and eastern Lebanon.
The party said in a statement, “The attacks and massacres committed by the Israeli enemy are no longer merely a violation of the ceasefire agreement, but rather constitute a described aggression and a continuation of the war in every sense of the word. Accordingly, the full responsibility lies with the Israeli occupation.”
He added, “The enemy’s claims that we are violating the ceasefire agreement are a blatant attempt to sabotage the agreement between Iran and the United States,” explaining that “the Israeli enemy’s violations since dawn on Friday amounted to 300 documented violations and assaults.”
The party said in its statement, “Lebanon and its resistance have the right to defense in the face of Israeli attacks, and no one has the right to rob it of that,” noting that “the enemy’s effort to establish freedom of movement is unacceptable and will not go unanswered, and expelling the occupation is a matter of time.”
Since March 2, 2026, Israel has launched an expanded aggression against Lebanon, leaving 3,980 dead and more than 12,000 injured, in addition to more than a million displaced, according to data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
