NEW YORK — Lebanon's PM Demands Israel Withdraw, Fighting Continues

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the United Nations General Assembly on Friday that Israel must pull its forces out of southern Lebanon and release all Lebanese detainees, even as Israeli shelling, air strikes, and home demolitions continued in the region he was talking about, according to Al Jazeera.

Here is what changed Friday and what has not.

What did Lebanon's prime minister say at the UN?

Speaking at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Salam said Lebanon wants "the war to end" and "the ceasefire consolidated," Al Jazeera reported. He called for a complete Israeli withdrawal to Lebanon's internationally recognized border and the release of all Lebanese detainees held by Israel.

Salam told delegates his government has been negotiating with Israel through US mediation, including President Donald Trump's administration, "to end the war and restore Lebanon's sovereignty." He said any agreement should be judged "not by intentions but by fulfillment of commitments," and called for a clear timetable and a verification mechanism to make sure Israel's promised pullback actually happens.

What is happening on the ground in southern Lebanon right now?

While Salam spoke in New York, Israeli forces carried out a large explosion near the towns of Taybeh and Deir Siryan in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported. An Israeli air strike also hit a valley between Froun and Ghandourieh, setting off a large fire.

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr, reporting from Froun, said Israeli warplanes and drones were still flying at low altitude over the area and that artillery shelling was causing fires that firefighters could not reach. "Lebanese civil defence and firefighters are not being allowed by the Israelis to reach these areas and put out the flames," Khodr said, according to Al Jazeera.

Khodr said more than 60 towns in southern Lebanon remain under Israeli occupation, where Israeli forces are "blowing up people's homes" as part of what she described as a systematic demolition campaign, despite the ceasefire framework Israel signed with Lebanon's government.

What does the ceasefire agreement actually require?

A US-brokered framework agreement reached between Lebanon and Israel in June calls for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory and the deployment of the Lebanese army into areas Israeli forces vacate, Al Jazeera reported.

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces currently occupy up to 600 square kilometers of Lebanese territory stretching to the Litani River, an area larger than what the framework contemplated as a short-term buffer. Salam's UN remarks pressed for that occupation to end and for the withdrawal steps already agreed to be carried out on a timetable, not left open-ended.

How many people have been killed or wounded since the war began?

Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 4,386 people and wounded 12,407 others since March 2, when the current Hezbollah-Israel war started, according to figures reported by Al Jazeera. Those numbers cover the period from the start of that conflict through the present shelling described in Friday's reporting.

What should residents and officials watch for next?

• Whether Israel sets a withdrawal date. Salam's central UN demand was a timetable with verification, something the June framework did not spell out in public terms, per Al Jazeera.
• Whether firefighters get access to strike sites. Khodr's on-the-ground reporting said Lebanese civil defence crews were being blocked from reaching fires near Froun, a flashpoint for whether the ceasefire is being honored in practice.
• Detainee releases. Salam asked for all Lebanese detainees held by Israel to be freed as part of any wind-down of hostilities.
• Continued strikes in occupied towns. Al Jazeera reported that more than 60 towns remain under Israeli control, where demolitions have continued despite the signed ceasefire framework.
• Any US response. Salam referenced ongoing negotiations mediated by the Trump administration; further American statements on enforcement or timelines would be the next concrete marker to watch.

For now, the diplomatic track in New York and the military reality in southern Lebanon are running on separate clocks. Salam is asking the UN and Washington to close that gap with a written schedule. Al Jazeera's reporting from Froun shows Israeli strikes and demolitions were still active in the same hours he spoke.

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