Israel on Monday warned residents of south Lebanon to stay out of a belt of territory running the length of the border and not to approach the area of the Litani River, entrenching its grip over southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that planned talks with Israel aim to end hostilities and the Israeli occupation in the south, as he named an ex-ambassador to the United States to lead the delegation.

Lebanon, said Aoun, “is facing two options: either the continuation of the war with all its humanitarian, social, economic, and sovereignty repercussions, or negotiations to put an end to this war and achieve sustainable stability.”

“I have chosen negotiation,” said Aoun, according to his office, “and I am full of hope that we will be able to save Lebanon.”

Aoun named former Lebanese ambassador to Washington Simon Karam to head the negotiations with Israel, and said “no one will share this task with Lebanon or take its place.”

The US-mediated, 10-day ceasefire took effect on Thursday, largely stopping the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that spiraled out of the conflict between the United States and Iran. The ceasefire halted more than six weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group backed by Iran, but the IDF has continued to respond to what it says are violations of the ceasefire.

The truce remains fragile, with Israeli troops holding on to territory deep in the south of Lebanon, aiming to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks, while the group says it maintains the “right to resist” the Israeli military presence in Lebanon.

The Israeli military posted a map on social media with a red line across much of the south, and said residents should not move into the area between it and the border, saying IDF troops were maintaining positions in the south.

“During the ceasefire agreement, the IDF continues to remain deployed in its positions in southern Lebanon in the face of the ongoing terror activity of Hezbollah,” army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

Adraee named 58 villages to which residents should not return. “In addition, do not approach the Litani River area, Wadi al-Salhani, and Saluki,” he added.

During the ceasefire, the military has said that it would continue to clear the area currently under its control of Hezbollah infrastructure, operatives, and any other threats.

Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the map runs 5-10 km (3-5 miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory, covering an area where the IDF has been razing entire villages, as instructed by Defense Minister Israel Katz, to prevent Hezbollah from using the area to stage attacks.

Ali Hassan Khalil, a top aide to Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said Monday that Israel’s destruction of civilian homes in the south amounted to “a clear war crime.”

The military has insisted that it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure, which it says is often embedded within civilian homes.

US President Donald Trump announced the truce in Lebanon on Thursday. Trump later said he expected Aoun and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House in the coming days.

The ceasefire came days after Lebanon and Israel’s ambassadors to the US held a meeting in Washington, the first direct meeting between the two countries in decades, as they have technically been at war since 1948.

Hezbollah also warns against return

Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati, addressing residents of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, told them they shouldn’t return to their homes yet because of the risk of Israeli attack.

“Israeli treachery is expected at any time, and this is a temporary truce,” the senior Hezbollah leader said.

“Take a breath, relax a little, but do not abandon the places you have taken refuge in until we are completely reassured about your return” to your homes, he added.

Local councils in the south also warned residents against returning home, saying doing so was not yet safe.

Hezbollah, in a statement on Monday, said explosive devices previously planted by its fighters had detonated as Israeli military vehicles were moving through an area of the south on Sunday.

There were no reports of Israeli casualties in Lebanon on Sunday. Two IDF reservist soldiers were killed over the weekend as a result of Hezbollah-placed explosives, and over a dozen more were wounded, according to the military.

Lebanon was dragged into the regional war on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran.

Israel ordered a wide-scale evacuation of all of southern Lebanon, which Lebanese civilians largely abided by, especially in villages close to the border, leaving behind an estimated 1,000 Hezbollah operatives — most of whom have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Lebanese authorities say the subsequent Israeli offensive has killed more than 2,300 people, including 177 children, and forced more than 1.2 million to flee. These figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah has not disclosed its casualty figures, but the IDF says at least 1,800 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since March 2.

Hezbollah has fired some 5,500 rockets at IDF troops operating in the south of the country, as well as around 2,500 at Israel amid the fighting.

The terror group’s attacks have killed two civilians in Israel, while 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon. Additionally, an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

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