Lebanon president says speaking to US, France to press for Israeli withdrawal

BEIRUT, OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Lebanon's president said Tuesday Beirut was in contact with Washington and Paris, which helped broker an Israel-Hezbollah truce, to press Israel to complete its withdrawal from the country after the deadline passed.

"Lebanon is continuing its diplomatic contacts with the United States and France to complete Israel's withdrawal from the remaining territories it occupied in the last war," Joseph Aoun's office said in a statement.

Israel is "temporarily remaining in five strategic high points" in southern Lebanon, foreign minister Gideon Saar said Tuesday, the deadline for Israel to withdraw under a November 27 truce deal. 

Holding the locations was "necessary for our security", Saar added. "Once Lebanon fully implements its side of the deal, there will be no need to hold these points," he told a press conference in Jerusalem.

The UN's Lebanon envoy and peacekeeping force on Tuesday warned Israel's delayed withdrawal from the country violated the UN resolution that ended the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war and formed the basis for a recent truce.

"Today marks the end of the period set for the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces... and the parallel Lebanese Armed Forces deployment to positions in southern Lebanon," the joint statement said, adding: "Another delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen, not least because it continues a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006)."