Israel is pressing forward with major operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon even as the diplomatic track meant to end the broader regional war shows signs of strain, with Iran threatening to walk away from talks with Washington over Israel’s continued presence in Lebanon.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited soldiers in southern Lebanon on Sunday and warned that the ceasefire remains fragile, telling troops that the military must maintain the highest level of readiness and be prepared to resume offensive operations if necessary. He invoked the lessons of Simchas Torah 5784, when Israel vowed never again to allow enemies to mass forces along its borders unchallenged, and said the IDF has pushed Hezbollah onto the defensive by taking control of the areas around Majdal Zoun, the Ali Taher Ridge, and Beaufort Castle. He singled out the 401st Armored Brigade for praise, noting that despite recently losing several senior commanders, the unit has maintained constant readiness to deploy from Gaza to Lebanon.

The warning came hours after troops from the 91st Division’s 551st Brigade seized control of a major Hezbollah tunnel near Majdal Zoun, roughly 10 kilometers into southern Lebanon. The tunnel, stretching 200 meters and reaching 25 meters underground, contained four rocket-firing shafts that Hezbollah had used repeatedly to target Israeli communities and that the IDF said had been difficult to destroy from the air. Twenty Hezbollah terrorists, including ten members of the group’s Radwan Force, were killed in the operation, and roughly 50 additional pieces of terrorist infrastructure, including drones, anti-tank missiles, and lookout posts, were seized or destroyed.

The military progress comes as the diplomatic track underpinning the broader de-escalation shows signs of fraying. An Iranian source told Reuters that talks between Iran and the United States in Switzerland have paused, though not collapsed, following unconfirmed reports that the Iranian delegation had walked out in protest of President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Iran again should Hezbollah continue its attacks. The accuracy of those reports could not be confirmed.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency went further, reporting that Tehran would suspend talks with Washington entirely unless Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, a condition Yerushalayim has firmly rejected. The agency said the relevant provision in the preliminary understanding with the U.S. calls for ending hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, and ensuring Lebanon’s territorial integrity, without which Tehran considers the negotiations void. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, separately warned the United States that Iranian armed forces remain ready to respond, dismissing the impact of American threats.

Adding to the pressure, a security official said the IDF has urged Israel’s political leadership to intensify negotiations with the Lebanese government directly, amid concern that the Iran-U.S. track could constrain Israel’s freedom of action against Hezbollah. The IDF reportedly wants to preserve the buffer zone in southern Lebanon while pressing forward with plans to destroy a significant underground Hezbollah facility beneath the Ali Taher Ridge near Nabatieh, and is said to be pushing the government to raise its diplomatic profile in Washington in pursuit of a separate arrangement with Beirut, rather than face American pressure to align with Iranian demands.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the JNS International Policy Summit in Yerushalayim, defended Israel’s continued presence in the southern Lebanon security zone, arguing that any nation facing similar terror threats on its border would act the same way. He rejected criticism over civilian casualties in the campaign against Hezbollah, asserting that Israeli forces go to extraordinary lengths to minimize harm to noncombatants and citing Defense Ministry research indicating a far lower ratio of civilian to combatant deaths than is typical in urban warfare elsewhere. “We don’t have a war with Lebanon,” he said. “We have a war with Hezbollah.”

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, speaking at the same summit, alluded lightly to the friction between Yerushalayim and Washington over the conduct of the campaign, telling the audience he had checked President Trump’s social media that morning to make sure he still had a job. An embassy spokesperson said the remark was made in jest. Huckabee has been a consistent supporter of Netanyahu amid recent tension between the two governments over ending the wars in Iran and Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected any Israeli security presence in Lebanon, insisting that Lebanon’s national army alone bears responsibility for the country’s sovereignty.

Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, weighed in as well, after President Trump suggested Damascus should take responsibility for restraining Hezbollah rather than Israel. Al-Sharaa said Syria would not engage Hezbollah militarily but could contribute to a political resolution, describing the crisis in Lebanon as severe and stalled. He said Trump’s comments had been misread, clarifying that the president had been referring to a Syrian role in seeking a peaceful outcome rather than any plan for Syrian forces to enter Lebanon. Al-Sharaa said his government’s approach centers on rebuilding the Lebanese state’s institutions and finding a resolution all sides can accept, adding that the situation calls for new approaches rather than conventional ones.

A senior Israeli diplomatic official told reporters that, despite the friction, Washington has not explicitly demanded an Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon.