{"id":1596,"date":"2026-06-30T15:10:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/06\/30\/they-havent-set-foot-there-lebanese-mayor-questions-israeli-withdrawal-claim-video\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:10:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T15:10:52","slug":"they-havent-set-foot-there-lebanese-mayor-questions-israeli-withdrawal-claim-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1596","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They haven\u2019t set foot there\u2019: Lebanese mayor questions Israeli withdrawal claim (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mayor of Froun says his village lies entirely outside the so-called Yellow Line, Israel\u2019s self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mayor of a southern Lebanese village has questioned Israel\u2019s reported withdrawal plan that came as part of an initial agreement reached in Washington.<\/p>\n

In an interview with RT, Hassan Adel Bazzi said that the community of Froun was designated as a pilot withdrawal zone despite never being occupied by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n

Last week, West Jerusalem and the Lebanese government signed a US-brokered deal for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, pending Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament. As part of a broader arrangement, Israel is reportedly planning to establish so-called \u2018experimental zones\u2019 in certain parts of southern Lebanon, from which the Israeli army would pull back first in order to allow Lebanese forces to dislodge Hezbollah fighters.<\/p>\n

The militant group has rejected the preliminary peace agreement, saying it heavily favors West Jerusalem. Opposition to the deal reportedly extends well beyond Hezbollah, with around 90% of Lebanese overall rejecting normalization with Israel.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"An
Israel planning permanent Lebanon occupation \u2013 professor (VIDEO)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen Netanyahu declared that Froun and Zawtar El Gharbiyeh were experimental zones, we as a municipality and as residents were surprised and outraged,\u201d<\/em> Bazzi told RT correspondent Steve Sweeny.<\/p>\n

The mayor stressed that \u201cFroun is located outside the yellow line,\u201d<\/em> referring to Israel\u2019s self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we know that an experimental zone must be occupied territory,\u201d<\/em> Bazzi said. \u201cFroun is not occupied, and Israelis have not set foot there, they were only 5 km away.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Israeli\u00a0Defense Minister Israel Katz\u00a0said the IDF will not withdraw \u201ca millimeter\u201d<\/em> from Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed.<\/p>\n

Watch RT\u2019s full report from the area:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mayor of Froun says his village lies entirely outside the so-called Yellow Line, Israel\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}