Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday publicly dismissed President Donald Trump’s prediction that Israel would soon withdraw from southern Lebanon, declaring that Israeli forces would remain in a self-declared security zone until Hezbollah is fully disarmed. “We did not ask anyone’s permission to enter Lebanon, and we do not need permission to stay,” Katz said in a statement, directly contradicting Trump’s remarks a day earlier at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Trump had told reporters that he discussed a withdrawal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and believed Israel “wants to” pull out, citing a US-mediated deal with Lebanon. Israeli officials, however, have consistently conditioned any pullback on the complete removal of Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Katz and Netanyahu have both stated that the Israel Defense Forces will not retreat “a millimetre” until that condition is met, and Katz added that the security zone—stretching from the Mediterranean to Mount Hermon—is “clean of residents and terror infrastructure.” In Beirut, Hezbollah has rejected the framework agreement signed in late June, with its secretary-general Naim Qassem calling it “in Israel’s interest” and vowing that none of its clauses would be implemented.

The public divergence between Washington and Tel Aviv comes as a new round of US-mediated negotiations is set for 14–15 July in Rome, and the White House has invited Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to Washington on 21 July. According to Israeli and Lebanese officials, the talks will involve technical teams and follow five previous rounds that produced a framework agreement under which Israel would hand over two areas to the Lebanese army as a pilot. The US has also proposed vetting Lebanese army units to ensure they are free of Hezbollah loyalists, a step Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter described as still under discussion.

Israeli forces continue to operate inside Lebanese territory despite a ceasefire, with Lebanese media reporting overnight demolitions in the town of Khiam and artillery fire near Deir Siriane. Hezbollah-aligned sources told Haaretz that the group’s near-total restraint is a deliberate test to expose what they call Israel’s intention to entrench a permanent military presence rather than complete its withdrawal. The Rome talks and the Aoun-Trump meeting are now the next concrete steps in a dossier where the gap between Israeli security demands and the Lebanese government’s insistence on full sovereignty remains wide.