White House officials: 'Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon - not before Hezbollah threat is removed'

Senior US administration officials told Walla that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon will only be possible after Hezbollah is disarmed and Lebanese sovereignty is restored. The statements come a day before the Netanyahu-Trump meeting, with Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia also on the agenda.

Senior US administration officials told Walla that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon will only be possible after Hezbollah is disarmed and Lebanese sovereignty is restored over all its territory. The statements come a day before the Netanyahu-Trump meeting at the White House. The officials emphasized that implementing the understandings aims to achieve three goals: restoring Lebanese sovereignty, dismantling Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure, and enabling Israel to return to secure borders. According to them, with the start of the pilot last week, the IDF began redeploying in the Zoter al-Gharbiya area. Regarding Iran, Netanyahu is expected to present Trump with information on its progress toward nuclear weapons. Trump said that he and Netanyahu are "pretty close" on the Iran issue, but there is a "small difference" between them. He added that Iran has taken a hard hit and that if no agreement is reached, they will return to "doing what we did two days ago." Regarding Turkey, Trump said that Erdogan is "not a big fan of Bibi and Israel." The meeting is expected to be closed to the press.