Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ruled out a withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory occupied in southern Lebanon for the foreseeable future, despite a U.S.-Iran agreement to halt the conflict.
Israel "will restore security to the north," Netanyahu said in statements reported by the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
"This requires maintaining the security strip in southern Lebanon, and that requires that we not withdraw as long as Israel's security needs require it."
Netanyahu's remarks came as relations with the United States have come under strain over the U.S.-Iran agreement to halt the war.
Netanyahu has still not commented directly on the deal, though some of his coalition members dismissed it even before the text's details were released on Wednesday.
