The Israeli military has pulled several brigades out of southern Lebanon following its failure to yield any significant territorial gains in the Arab country, a report says.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, citing informed sources, reported on Tuesday that officials involved in negotiations with the Lebanese movement Hezbollah assess a deal to be reached within a week and a half to two weeks.
The Hebrew-language daily claimed that there has been progress in efforts to reach a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, adding that Israeli forces are waiting for a decision from the regime.
This comes as the Israeli military has failed to gain control over the towns it raided in southern Lebanon as part of a ground invasion against the Arab country.
The Israeli regime’s infiltration attempts in different villages have also been met with heroic resistance by Hezbollah fighters.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military is facing a critical manpower problem as it runs short of thousands of troops, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday.
The report said there has been a 1% average decline in male soldier enlistments over the past few years.
Israel is dealing with the manpower issue at a time when its military faces a debacle in the Gaza Strip.
The military has also failed to achieve its goals meaningfully in southern Lebanon.
Dozens of soldiers have been killed in recent days on both battlefronts.
Since late September, Israel has launched an intense air and ground onslaught against Lebanon after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah over the war in Gaza.
At least 3,002 people have been killed and 13,492 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 2023, according to the country’s health ministry.
Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with numerous retaliatory operations, targeting the occupied Palestinian territories.