"The IDF will, at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations, remain in the security zone in Lebanon up to the Yellow Line -- including in the Beaufort area -- and without the return of the population, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure on the ground," Israel Katz said in a statement, as he hailed the ceasefire deal reached on Wednesday.

Katz said Israeli forces retained the "freedom of action, with American backing, to strike in Beirut in response to fire on Israeli communities and territory".

Israel has established a so-called Yellow Line inside Lebanese territory about a dozen kilometres from its northern border since an initial ceasefire came into effect on April 17.

Katz said the latest ceasefire agreement, brokered by Washington, "unequivocally" calls for disarming Hezbollah across Lebanon.

The ceasefire stipulates the "removal of Hezbollah terrorists from the entire area south of the Litani River and the creation of a demilitarised zone" there, he added.

In a separate statement, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, warned residents in southern Lebanon to "refrain from heading south of the Zahrani River until further notice".

"The fighting in southern Lebanon continues as the Israel Defence Forces continue to target Hezbollah facilities and infrastructure located in your villages and nearby," he said on X.

Last week, Israel's military declared all areas south of Lebanon's Zahrani River -- around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border and including the cities of Tyre and Nabatieh -- to be "combat zones" and told residents to evacuate.

glp-jd/axn

X