Esmail Qaani Threatens Israel With Forced Retreat From Lebanon

IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani threatened on Thursday that Israel must withdraw from Lebanon or be forced to retreat in defeat tomorrow, demanding in a social media post, "You Zionists must leave all of Lebanon. This land is the arena of resistance and steadfastness, not a playground for occupiers."

The warning was issued as Qaani marked Ashura and invoked Imam Hussein (AS) and the 10th day of Muharram, while he drew parallels between Karbala and "contemporary resistance movements confronting Israeli occupation and military actions in the region."

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

In the same message, Qaani warned, "If you do not withdraw of your own accord today, tomorrow you will be forced to flee in humiliation and defeat," and he referenced a 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon and a "historic testament" by Martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Bint Jbeil.

The Jerusalem Post also tied the Lebanon threat to broader Iranian rhetoric, reporting that Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi blamed Italy and Romania for allowing the United States to use their air bases in attacks on Iran.

Separately, Shafaq News said Qaani warned Israel to withdraw or face "humiliation and defeat," while noting conflicting accounts over whether Israeli forces have begun pulling back from occupied areas in southern Lebanon.

Shafaq News reported that a US State Department official described an Israeli pullback from part of the buffer zone as a "significant demonstration of good faith" toward Lebanon's government under a US-backed proposal to transfer parts of the occupied territory to the Lebanese Army.

The same Shafaq News account said senior Israeli and Lebanese sources denied that any withdrawal had taken place, with an Israeli defense official telling Reuters that troops would remain in the self-declared "buffer zone" and a Lebanese military official saying developments showed "the opposite of a pullback."

Al-Najah Al-Ikhbari

Hezbollah rejected any Israeli "freedom of action" and renewed its demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated Lebanon’s rejection of Israeli occupation and external tutelage.

Shafaq News also described day-to-day incidents, including a reported Israeli drone strike near Zawtar al-Sharqiya in the Nabatieh district with no immediate reports of casualties and an Israeli drone dropping a stun grenade over Kfartebnit.

In parallel, the Jerusalem Post framed the Lebanon threat alongside a political row in Italy over Mark Rutte’s remarks, with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto saying Italy authorized "exclusively technical and logistical, non-kinetic activities" and that Rutte’s account conveyed a "totally misleading message."

The dispute over withdrawal is playing out alongside the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed on June 18, which the Jerusalem Post said ended the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran and mandated an "immediate and permanent" halt to military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon.

PressTV said Qaani warned that if Israeli forces did not withdraw voluntarily, they would be forced into a humiliating retreat, while also stating that despite the ceasefire commitment, Israeli forces have continued strikes in southern Lebanon.

PressTV reported that Lebanese officials have said they recorded more than 4,100 killings since March, and it described Qaani’s message as warning the Israeli regime that "You must leave all of Lebanon" because the land is "a field of steadfastness and resistance, not a playground for occupiers."

L'Orient Today added that Israel currently occupies more than 620 square kilometers of Lebanese territory along the border, and it said the future of that area is "one of the most contentious issues" in ongoing negotiations over implementing the cease-fire.

In the same negotiation context, Shafaq News said the proposed pilot zones are intended to ensure the complete and verifiable dismantlement of Hezbollah's weapons and infrastructure before being expanded across southern Lebanon, paving the way for "the safe return of displaced ⁠families" and "restoration of full Lebanese sovereignty."