Lebanon refuses Israeli demand to stay in five southern locations after February 18

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that Beirut rejected Israel’s demand to remain in five locations in the south after the deadline for fully implementing a fragile ceasefire deal next week.
The United States, a key mediator, “informed me that the Israeli occupation will withdraw from villages it still occupies on February 18, but it will remain in five points,” Hezbollah-ally Berri said in a statement, adding: “I informed them in my name and on behalf of President General Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Judge Nawaf Salam of our absolute rejection” of this proposal.