The IDF has received orders from the political echelon to hold fire in southern Lebanon.
The military expressed opposition to the ceasefire directive. The IDF maintains high alert in light of threats from Iran and continues to operate in the southern Lebanon area.
The ceasefire does not include the withdrawal of IDF forces from southern Lebanon. The troops continue to hold the forward defense zone, known as the "Yellow Line," and operate within it.
At the same time, IDF forces maintain operational control over the Ali Taher Ridge complex near the city of Nabatieh, considered a stronghold of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. According to a senior source, the IDF currently holds operational control of the area, and dozens of Hezbollah terrorists are trapped within the complex, unable to leave.
Over the course of Saturday, heavy exchanges of fire occurred between the IDF and Hezbollah. Hezbollah claims 111 fatalities from Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the weekend, following the tank disaster in which the commander of the 52nd Armor Battalion, Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simchon, and three other soldiers were killed.
Lt. Col. Ben Simchon and the three soldiers, whose names have not yet been released, were killed during the night between Thursday and Friday in an operation in the village of Tabnit near the ridge, as part of efforts to seize Hezbollah’s underground complex at Ali Taher. A senior IDF official stated that the disaster resulted from a drone strike or an anti-tank missile hit, and not an operational accident.