Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been sidelined by a new U.S.-Iran understanding that has curtailed Israel's freedom of action in Lebanon and altered the regional balance, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
"Netanyahu is selling Israelis fiction on Lebanon as Trump sidelines Israel in Iran talks,” headlined an article by military analyst Amos Harel in Haaretz newspaper.
"For now, it seems that the Trump administration has succeeded in imposing a ceasefire in Lebanon,” Harel wrote. "The Israeli army and Hezbollah have stopped attacking each other.”
He said the Israeli army has drawn down its forces in southern Lebanon and the Home Front Command has lifted some restrictions along the northern border despite pledges by Netanyahu and military chiefs to maintain control of the "security zone.”
Harel accused Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz of hiding the truth from the Israeli public and "deliberately” misleading it.
