Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has expressed concern that the Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon may not fully withdraw by the February 18 deadline.

“We are afraid that a complete withdrawal will not be achieved tomorrow,” Aoun said in a statement released by the presidency on Monday.

“[T]he important thing is to achieve the Israeli withdrawal,” Aoun insisted, adding, “We are continuing contacts on several levels to push Israel to respect the agreement and to withdraw on the scheduled date, and return the prisoners.”

Aoun said it was imperative that the Israelis withdraw. “We are continuing contacts on several levels to push Israel to respect the agreement, and to withdraw on the scheduled date, and return the prisoners.”

Earlier on Monday, Aoun urged sponsors of the ceasefire deal with the Israelis to pressure Tel Aviv to pull out its forces by the deadline. “The sponsors of the deal should bear their responsibility to assist us.”

Israel was forced to accept the ceasefire with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah on November 27, 2024, after suffering heavy losses on the battleground and failing to achieve its goals despite killing over 4,000 people in Lebanon.

The Israeli withdrawal was stipulated in the ceasefire deal. Under the agreement, Israeli forces had been initially due to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26 in line with the original ceasefire deal.

Israeli forces, however, did not leave the occupied areas in a blatant violation of the truce and an infringement on Lebanon’s sovereignty.

A committee representing the United States, France, Lebanon, the Israeli regime and the command of the UN peacekeepers serving in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violation is identified and dealt with.

Experts of international affairs say in addition to the guarantors of the ceasefire deal, the United Nations Security Council also has a clear responsibility to take effective measures to end the Israeli aggression, and to hold the regime accountable.

UNIFIL has been tasked with monitoring the ceasefire deal that ended the 33-day War in 2006 between the Israeli regime and Hezbollah. The UN peacekeepers were first deployed in southern Lebanon to oversee the Israeli withdrawal in 1978.

The UN mission, tasked with maintaining peace by recording ceasefire violations by either side, has some 9,500 troops recruited from about 50 countries.