Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/11/israel-releases-four-lebanese-captives-agrees-to-join-border-dispute-talks
Israel said on Tuesday it has agreed to hold talks with Lebanon over demarcating the border, followed by the release of 4 Lebanese captives back to Lebanon, as a “gesture to the Lebanese president”. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying that Israeli had agreed to cooperate with Lebanon, the US, and France in terms of establishing “working groups” in order to discuss the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel. These working groups were set up with the goal of addressing the border disputes, in addition to addressing Israel’s continued occupation of 5 strategic points in South Lebanon. The ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel required that Hezbollah withdraw North of the Litani river and dismantle its military structure in the South, and required Israel to withdraw completely from Lebanese territory. However, the Israeli deadline was February 18, after already being extended from January, and they have yet to withdraw from 5 locations deemed strategic.
This article is necessary in understanding the current relations between Israel and Lebanon, but specifically between Hezbollah and the Israeli government. Immediately following the attack by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, Hezbollah also began an offensive movement against Israel, which has continued since then. However, the ceasefire Hezbollah and Israel agreed on is less well known, especially the fact that Israel has failed to withdraw troops from Lebanon. Depending on how each country/organization responds, there could be a demarcation of the border between Lebanon and Israel, or a continuation of conflicts.
Israel has agreed to cooperate with Lebanon, deciding to hold talks over demarcating the border, and has released an additional 4 Lebanese hostages. However, the Israeli government has failed to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, despite passing 2 separate deadlines. It is very possible that Lebanon/Hezbollah will refuse to discuss the topic of demarcating the border until Israel successfully removes its troops from the 5 locations in Israel that it has deemed strategic locations. Since Israel has already missed both deadlines that were put in place, it is likely they will not feel inclined to remove their troops, which could impact relations between Lebanon and Israel.
This conflict between Israel and Hezbollah can be seen as an example of security threats, which can be directly related to what has been discussed in class. This can be seen as both rival states and terrorist groups, since Lebanon and Israel have had a history of conflicts, but the current issue lies between Hezbollah and Israel. Additionally, this conflict can also be related to the levels of conflict, where the issues between Israel and Hezbollah would be interstate, since it involves two or more different member states.