Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Monday that Israel should withdraw from the occupied border areas in southern Lebanon, rejecting the extension of the cease-fire arrangements to Feb. 18.

With a new administration in Washington and a renewed focus on the West Bank, it is in Israel’s interests to maintain the ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in late November 2024 to end more than a year of fighting.

Some troops had been expected to withdraw to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to go home. But Israel said the hostage exchange before that step had not gone as agreed. Hamas accused Israel of stalling.